Natasha's Secret
by rox.fanfics
Summary: Nobody really knows anything about Natasha Romanov, not even Fury, but that's about to change. But how does Percy Jackson fit into the equation and since when did Natasha have friends outside of work?
1. Prolouge

Natasha Romanof was a complicated person who was hard to understand and she liked to keep it that way.

Unfortunately, she now had to work with a group of people who wanted to get close to her.

Natasha had lied about a lot of things in her life, that came with the job description of spy, but she had managed to keep her private life private from even director Fury himself.

The only one who knew her secret was Clint.

One day, he came across a part of her hidden life by accident and confronted her about it.

Clint promised to keep her secret, but can she keep the biggest thing in her life from the Avengers?

It all started with a girl named Annabeth Chase. Annabeth Chase is dead now, only alive in her small family and friends, but that doesn't matter.

Annabeth was once known as the smartest demigod child of Athena, saviour of the world, and part of the seven demigods who fought Gaea.

After her second war, Annabeth wanted to lead a regular life with her boyfriend, son of Posiedon, Percy Jackson.

Two years after the giant war Percy Jackson proposed to Annabeth Chase and she happily accepted.

They planned to get married after they finished college in new rome with Percy studying marine biology and Annabeth studying architecture.

Both of them we have terrible PTSD from there time in tartarus, but they got through it with the help of friends.

Fast forward three years, Annabeth and Percy are expecting their first child and are over the moon.

Until the accident.

Annabeth and Percy had moved out of new Rome and were fitting into the mortal world until a rogue monster got loose, killing nearly all the demigods in new rome while it's brother destroyed camp half blood.

The only survivors were Jason Grace, Piper McLean, Nico di Angelo and Will Solace, who Nico was able to shadow travel out in time, though it drained him a lot.

Annabeth was crushed by grief and once her child was born, she made a new identity for herself and only kept in contact with Percy, Jason, Piper, Nico, Will, and her child, Luke.

She was now Natasha Romanof, agent of shield.


	2. Chapter 1

Working with shield while having a secret family was hard enough, adding the alien invasions and sudden team building exercises was a whole new level for Annabeth.

It had taken her a couple months to get used to her new name, but only Percy, Will, Nico, Jason, and Piper called her Annabeth anymore.

To everyone else in the world, she was Natasha or Black Widow.

It was getting harder to keep her secret, especially considering how intrusive Thor could be when he wants to be.

She got worried about having a Norse god on the team but he wasn't able to sniff her out.

It was very hard pretending to not understand everything Stark and Banner said, though. Annabeth wanted to discuss things with them, give them ideas, point them in the right direction.

But she couldn't, it would blow her cover and might even put four-year-old Luke in danger, which is something she would avoid at all costs.

Percy did become one of the world's top marine biologists and she wouldn't be surprised if SHIELD looked to him for help, also one thing she steered them away from.

By playing the roll of Natasha, she was able to keep her private life to herself and off SHIELD's radar.

As often as she could, she came home to her loving husband who learned to cook while she was pregnant and could now serve dinner when she got home.

She would also be greeted by her beautiful son, Luke Charles Jackson, an intelligent boy with dark black hair and stormy grey eyes.

Annabeth was lounging on Percy's lap as he ran his fingers through her blonde hair.

She appearance was still the same as ever, only she used cloaking technology to make her look like a stony faced red-head.

But how could she use technology?

Before Leo died in the incident, he found the solution to monsters tracking via technology.

He gave each demigod an injection that would make them intractable for monsters by technology.

She no longer had to worry about that problem, which was useful because SHIELD was very tech heavy.

Annabeth was feeling her husband run his hands over her head and then she felt a lump crash into her. "Luke!" She laughed as the four year old giggled.

"Up, Mommy, you get up!" He screamed in an adorable way which made both Percy and Annabeth smile.

There was a knock on the door and Percy went to answer it. "Nico, Will!" He greeted their neighbors and friends.

"Hey, Perc," Nico rolled his eyes while Will smiled.

"We actually have a better reason than running out of milk for bothering you," Will said, he looked about to burst from happiness. Percy raised his eyebrow as Nico nodded vigorously.

"Well, something happened last night…" Will said and Percy's eyebrows were disappearing into his hair.

"Well… um… Nico proposed!" Will exclaimed and Percy's jaw dropped.

"No way! Congrats, guys. You two really deserve a happy ending," Percy said and he gave Nico and older brotherly type hug which Nico shrugged off.

Annabeth leaped up from the sofa and gave Will a hug.

Will had become a very close friend in the past five years because they both had intelligent minds which meant that Will could vent about his medical patients to her and she could complain about Percy's seaweed brain-ness.

Piper, Will, and Annabeth had become a tight group while Nico had been adopted by Percy and Jason.

"You guys really deserve a happy ending, do you have anything planned?" Annabeth asked and Nico shook his head, smiling.

"No, not yet, we were going to get the date as soon as possible so you can clear it with your work, I know SHIELD is demanding," Nico sighed and Annabeth smiled guiltily.

"I will kill everyone I work with to be at your wedding," she said, not very reassuring, but this was Annabeth.

Luke came scrambling up to them, "What's happening?" He asked as Percy picked him up.

"Uncle Will and Uncle Nico are getting married!" Percy said playfully which made Luke shriek with joy as he clapped his hands.

Nico ruffled his hair as Will held up his hand for a high-five.

Annabeth wanted to stay and talk with the boys but she had to get to Avengers tower before the Avengers came looking for her.

"I'm so sorry, see you later, you will give me all the details," she made Will promise as she walked out of the door.

She rode in her car to Avengers tower and applied her face-changing technology.

She made it to the tower is record time and headed straight for Fury's office.

"What do you need, Romanoff," Fury said nonchalantly.

Director Fury trusted Natasha Romanoff with his life but was not expecting the following words:

"I need to take a day off in the future for my friend's wedding," she said very fast.

Fury almost dropped his coffee.

"What?" He asked, still not believing his ears.

"Friends of mine are getting married, I will need to take a day off in the future to attend that wedding," Fury was still staring blankly at her but Natasha was not one to wait so she walked out of the office to find the other Avengers.

Director Fury was not shocked easily, but finding out that Natasha Romanoff had other things in her life made his head spin.

He always thought of her as a workaholic, no time for families or friends unless they relate to work.

He was still in a state of shock when agent Hill walked in to give him some reports.

When she saw the director staring into space and unmoving, she became uneasy to say the least.

"... Director Fury?" She asked and Fury jumped in his chair so much that he did drop the coffee this time.

He tried to act professional, but Hill could see right through him.

Nobody expected this from Natasha Romanoff.


	3. Chapter 2

Annabeth walked into the Avengers group room where the other Avengers were all hanging out.

Tony ignored her as she came in because he was busy with a machine.

Thor was trying to figure out the toaster to make pop-tarts, he gave her a nod.

Clint was casually throwing crumbs at Tony to see how long it took for him to notice.

Steve was trying to help Thor with the toaster but he was almost as useless.

"Hey, guys," Tony called, looking up from his machine, "SHIELD wants us to spend time together as a team so… you are all invited to a trip to sea world, paid for by me," he finished, giving them a mock bow.

Annabeth was immediately on guard, Percy was training employees at sea world this week and had taken Luke with him to work today.

"I also managed to get us their best tour guide and world famous marine biologist, Percy Jackson!" Tony said excitedly.

Tony had in fact been wanting to meet Percy Jackson for a long time as he wanted to run some theories by him for solutions to ocean pollution and conserving marine life.

Whenever Tony brought up Percy Jackson, though, Natasha got very closed off and refused to have anything to do with him.

There was a loud bang and everyone looked around to Thor who had actually dropped his hammer and had a look of awe on his face.

"Percy Jackson?" He asked faintly and Burce Banner nodded slightly, he was also a fan of the marine biologist.

"Perseus Jackson is still alive?" Thor asked in such a small voice that only Annabeth heard him, and she was getting frustrated.

"What do you mean, sill alive, he's only twenty-six years old?" She asked in an ice cold voice.

"Since when do you know science stuff?" Steve asked and Natasha gave him her cold glare which made him shut up.

"SHIELD isn't my whole life, I have friends other than you and there are many things you don't know about me," she turned back to Thor, "how do you know about Percy Jackson?" She asked.

Thor gulped, Natasha's glare could make the bravest men run for their lives.

"He is the greatest hero of all time, his stories were told to Loki and I as children which made me the warrior I am today," he got a star dazed expression on his face.

"Percy Jackson is a legend in Asgard, as well as his friends, Annabeth Chase, Jason Grace, Piper McLean, Nico di Angelo, Hazel Levesque…" he went on listing most of the demigods that fought in the giant war but Annabeth could feel the emotions boiling inside her.

She tried to control herself, but then he said her name, "...Reyna Ramirez-Arellano…" the name was a punch to the gut for Annabeth.

Reyna was the picture of power and success but she still had fallen to that horrible monster that the gods had defeated too late.

Annabeth turned on her heel and ran out of the room so they wouldn't see her cry.

Everyone stared at Natasha as she power walked out of the room, Thor stopped talking.

"Did I say something?" Thor asked and the others could only shake their heads.


	4. Chapter 3

Annabeth slammed the door of the bathroom stall closed and put her head in her hands. _Snap out of it!_ She scolded herself, _They've been dead for years. Get a GRIP!_

Annabeth kicked the bathroom door open and it flew off its hinges. Agent Hill was standing next to the sink, a look of shock on her face.

"Agent Romanoff?" She said, quietly.

Annabeth broke down into tears and Agent Hill reached for her walkie-talkie to call for help when Annabeth shook her head at her.

Agent Hill put the device away.

Annabeth had been suppressing her emotions for years but the name of her friend had broken her. "I'm so sorry," she whispered and Hill's confusion grew.

"Natasha, what do you have to be sorry for?" Hill asked and Natasha shook her head.

"I failed them," she whispered, "they're all dead because of me, I should have seen it coming!" she yelled. There was a little noise at the door of the bathroom and Natasha looked up to see Thor, he had obviously wanted to make sure he didn't offend her.

Thor's face dawned in realization.

"You know the seven demigods of the prophecy? But they said they were still alive!" Thor looked so confused.

"Only a few of them," Annabeth whispered, "Percy Jackson, Piper McLean, Jason Grace, Nico di Angelo, and Will Solace survived, the rest were killed by twin monsters more powerful than a god." Natasha looked as though she was is such a dark place, her eyes swimming with painful images.

"What about Annabeth Chase?" Thor asked and Natasha shook her head.

It was true in some ways, Annabeth Chase no longer existed outside of her small family. (She considered Nico, Will, Jason, and Piper to be her family as well as Percy and Luke)

"How did you meet them?" Thor asked in awe to which Natasha shrugged.

"I met them briefly on a mission near Greece quite a few years ago, we got to talking and became friends, a couple of years ago, I got a message from Percy saying that some monster had attacked the camps and most of the demigods were dead. Haven't heard from him since,"

Thor smiled, "Well, we can still meet the great Perseus Jackson! We must visit the world of the sea!" Thor took hold of Natasha's arm and pulled her to the Avenger's room. All eyes turned to them as they entered.

"What was that about?" Steve asked and Bruce looked curious aswell.

"I've met Percy Jackson before, hearing about him brought back some bad memories," she dismissed all the worried looks, her face becoming stone once again.

"How did you hear about Percy when you were a child, Thor," Bruce asked, "you're thousands of years older than him," Thor frowned.

"We mainly heard legends and prophecy's, I have no idea when they happened or would happen on earth. Perseus Jackson was almost some untouchable being that I never thought of meeting one day," he looked wistful.

"Well," Tony grinned, "Why are we waiting? Let's get in the car. To Sea World!" Everyone cheered and Thor looked giddy with happiness.

Annabeth sighed, having no idea where this would go.


	5. Chapter 4

Thor could barely keep his voice stable, he was nearly shaking with excitement when they pulled up to Sea World.

He was going to meet Percy Jackson! Finding out that he was alive was incredible news, he almost couldn't believe it.

"How much longer?" Thor asked and Tony sighed,

"I told you, there's a little traffic, just wait and we can get through this in no time, ten minutes at most,"

"You midgardians have such slow time, it would be twice as fast on Asgard,"

"I highly doubt that," Bruce cut in, he was just as excited as Thor, "but meeting Percy Jackson is an amazing opportunity that we can not pass for anything, you'll just have to wait."

Bruce sat back into his seat in the huge car Tony had, big enough for Thor, Bruce, himself, Natasha, Steve, and Clint, with Happy driving.

"What should we know about Jackson before we meet him?" Tony asked he was barely containing giddiness.

"First," Natasha started, "he hates being called Perseus, can him that and he is instantly put off," Bruce was taking notes, "Second, he has a child, a kid named Luke, he's protective so he probably has Luke with him," Bruce nodded and added that to his list.

"Third, and final, he is extremely protective of his family, his cousins to be precise, Nico, Jason, and Thalia. Don't expect them to be there though, they have different lives they are leading,"

"How do you know all this?" Tony asked and Annabeth panicked slightly, but Natasha kept her cool, Clint gave her a wary eyebrow raise.

"I'm a spy/assassin, I know more about you than you know about yourself," she really hoped this worked.

They both seemed to buy it, and just in time, they were pulling up to Sea World.

Annabeth sucked in a big breath before stepping out of the car followed by Bruce and Tony, they stayed next to Natasha, presumably because she already knew the marine biologist.

Before they could even enter the building, however, they caught sight of the man they had been looking for.

"Is he just… sitting in a shark tank?" Bruce asked and Natasha nodded, rolling her eyes slightly, silly seaweed brain.

"He can hold his breath for extended periods of time, his record in eight minutes," Natasha made up the lie on the spot and was honestly quite proud of herself.

Master assassin or not, anyone can appreciate good lying skills.

"He's coming up," Tony exclaimed, and indeed Percy was kicking to the top of the tank, looking as though he had nothing impressive.

Once he got out of the tank a tiny black-haired boy ran up to him, squealing and laughing, evidently his son.

Tony cleared his throat, making Percy turn to them with a big smile.

He looked a little confused for a second at the sight of Natasha but eventually got over it, "Hello, I'm Percy Jackson," he held out his hand for them to shake, Tony was the first to get there,

"Hello, I think you know who I am," he gave Percy his dashing smile which only got him a confused eyebrow.

"I don't, sorry, am I supposed to?" Tony looked shocked, then embarrassed, Percy was going to think that he was self-centered, which he was, but that's beside the point.

"I'm sorry, you've probably been too busy to notice anything happening on the news right now," Bruce quickly cut in to which Percy shot him a smile.

"Nah, I'm just joking, I know who you guys are, Luke went as Captain America for Halloween so my wife gave me a presentation about you, she does all the planning in the family," he laughed and winked at Natasha who just rolled her eyes.

"Oh, thank god, I thought you thought I was an egotistical ass," Tony laughed and Clint just rolled his eyes.

"We all already think that Tony, you just cemented it," Tony faked being offended and Percy laughed.

"Do you guys want the tour?" Percy asked and Bruce nodded vigorously,

"This guy hasn't stopped talking about you for the whole car ride," Clint pointed at a blushing Bruce while Percy laughed good-naturedly.

"No worries, it's great to meet a fellow scientist, do you have any topics of discussion?"

"Yes!" Bruce hurried to get out a second notebook of notes and began talking rapidly with Percy about different ways to lower ocean temperatures in the arctic.

While chatting with Bruce, Percy somehow managed to get the whole group inside of Sea World and sprouted interesting facts about the marine life as they went.

"So, Percy," Tony interrupted Bruce who was excitedly making gestures with his hands, "I heard you say something about a wife, who's the lucky lady?" Tony wiggled his eyebrows and Percy just gave him his charming smile. /p

"Well, she has a pretty high stakes job so she doesn't like people knowing who she is, I'm not allowed to give away anything about her identity unless I have her explicit permission," Tony and Thor - who had been listening - both looked a little disappointed while Natasha just smirked.

Clint eyed her and rolled his eyes. He had met Percy a few times and they got along well, mainly talking about what it's like being married to/working with a badass woman like Annabeth.

"Leave the guy alone, Stark," Clint spoke up and Tony huffed, "I've worked with his wife before and she does have a very high stakes job, director Fury himself barely knows anything about her," Tony's eyes bugged out a bit, not believing that last part.

Percy checked his watch and his eyes widened, "Sorry guys, lost track of time, Luke has a doctor's appointment and we need to get there on time," he quickly showed them out, gave Annabeth a discreet hug and ran to fetch Luke (who was probably talking with the dolphins).

As soon as Percy got out of earshot, Thor squealed like a fangirl, "I just met Percy Jackson! He knows who I am!" Everyone smiled a little and rolled their eyes, Tony and Bruce talking over the suggestions Percy had given them for conserving marine life.

'Thank the gods, no one noticed,' Annabeth breathed out a sigh of relief and walked to the car.


	6. Chapter 5

"So, what exactly happened?" Jason asked for the tenth time that night which caused Nico to blush while Will smiled.

"Well, we had just finished dinner, I cooked-"

"And almost burned down the house, I told you I would cook," Nico smiled lovingly at Will who shrugged.

"I wanted to do something romantic for once,"

"Since I was the one who was doing the proposing I think I should have been the one to cook,"

"Whatever, I'm telling the story," Will looked back at Jason, "So, I cooked, and it didn't go very well, so Nico and I decided to order pizza and have some wine," a smile spread across Will's face again.

"We almost finished the pizza and Will suggested that we go to bed, but I said that I had something else I had to do," Nico blushed and Will put his arm around him.

"It was so sweet, I was really confused by what Nico meant and then he took out the ring box and I honestly just started crying," Will shrugged and Nico laughed,

"Oh yeah, I was so confused, I thought it was bad crying and tried to apologize but Will just kissed me, I had a whole speech prepared but I didn't need to use it," Everyone awwed at the story then Piper spoke up,

"Where's the ring!" Will smiled and showed her, it was a gold band with a black central diamond, on each side, there were rubies that glittered in the light.

"Oh my gods," Piper and Annabeth fawned over it with Will while Jason shot Nico a playful glare.

"Neeks, you're making the rest of us look bad," Nico smirked and rolled his eyes at Jason who had really become like an older brother to him in the past yeas.

The rest of the evening was spent over takeout Chinese and memories, a great night in Annabeth's opinion.

Unfortunately, she had to ruin the peace.

"Nico, Will," she got their attention. Will was sitting in an armchair while Nico sat on the floor between his legs, "I need you guys to come with me to meet the Avengers tomorrow." All conversations in the peaceful living room stoped.

"Why?" Will asked quietly and everyone looked at Annabeth, waiting for an answer.

"No one believes me when I say I have a life outside of work, therefore my boss isn't letting me have time off for your wedding, I need to prove him wrong, that or kill him," Annabeth added as an afterthought.

"We'll go with you," Will smiled at his friend while Nico shot him a concerned look,

"Are you sure, mi amor?"

"Yes, sunshine, I don't have a shift at the hospital tomorrow and your father hasn't called you in for a job in months," Nico still looked apprehensive but didn't argue. Annabeth smiled gratefully.

"Thank you, you won't regret this. Thor might fangirl over you guys a little bit but that should be it. Will, you should get along great with Bruce, he's also a doctor though he's studying more on the neurological side of medicine," Will nodded, taking mental notes while Nico just stared lovingly at Will's thinking face.

"I've always loved the way your eyebrows come together when you're thinking," Nico absentmindedly whispered to Will who blushed.

"You guys are too fucking cute, I swear to the gods I'm going to murder something," Percy said in a very monotone voice. This cause the atmosphere to go back to normal until Luke started crying from his room.

"I got it," Annabeth stood up from her spot on Percy's lap and walked down the hall to Luke's room. Once she opened the door she saw Luke sitting on this bed, hugging his Nemo pillow.

"Hey there, little guy," Annabeth sat on the edge on his bed and reached up to touch Luke's soft hair, "what's the matter?" she asked.

"Nemo's mom got eaten by the barbacuba," Luke stumbled over the pronunciation on barracuda (as he always did) which made Annabeth smile.

"Yes, she did, but do you know what else happened?" Annabeth whispered with a magical smile, or at least that's what Luke thought,

"What?"

"Nemo survived because of her, any mother would save her child," Luke took a few seconds to understand what she was saying then threw himself at Annabeth.

"You're not going to get eaten by a barbacuba," he said defiantly, as though his word was enough for it to become fact.

Annabeth smiled down at the precious child in her arms and hugged him back, "You're right, I'm never leaving you, or getting eaten by a barracuda, and neither would Daddy, he's like Marlin, he'll always be there for you and so will I." Luke seemed to like those words of comfort because he started falling asleep in Annabeth's arms.

"I wuv you, Mommy," he mumbled sleepily and Annabeth kissed the top of his head.

"I love you too, my little clownfish," Annabeth tucked Luke back into bed and carefully got up. Before she closed the door, Annabeth looked back at her son, the most important thing in her life, she would move mountains and cross oceans for him. With these wholesome thoughts, Annabeth quietly closed the door.


	7. Chapter 6

Getting up early was not one of the conditions Annabeth had mentioned the night before, and Nico was not happy to find out that it had to be complied. What did make his early morning worthwhile was his very _very_ handsome and shirtless fiance just starting to wake up.

"Morning, mi amor," Nico whispered to Will who just groaned and snuggled closer, his body heat higher than a normal person's, but Nico loved him like this.

Will always worried about others before himself, he was a doctor after all, but Nico loved it when Will was just a little selfish.

"We have to meet the Avengers today," Will groaned into Nico's neck who smirked,

"You signed us up for this, because 'I don't have a shift tomorrow and your father hasn't called you in for a job in months'," Will pouted and Nico could feel it against his skin.

"I just want to be lazy, and have fun in bed today," Nico blushed at Will's words, Will could sense this and laughed.

"You can't blame me, my extremely sexy fiance is just lying here with some very stylish bed hair," Will's lips connected with Nico's and they moved in sync.

It was sleepy and sloppy, but Nico wouldn't have it any other way.

"I really do love you, but we have to get going or Annabeth will actually murder us," Nico whispered in between kisses. Will sighed but agreed to get dressed.

Both Nico and Will dressed casually, Will in a bright yellow t-shirt with jeans and Nico in an MCR t-shirt with black skinny jeans.

A knock came from their door and Nico went to answer it, seeing Annabeth in her facial changing technology. "Hey, Annabeth," she walked inside and they both waited for Will who always took longer with his hair. Nico usually just put his in a short ponytail.

"Amour, are you ready yet?" Nico called and Will ran out of their room,

"Yes! All ready, are we leaving?" Will looked at Annabeth who nodded.

"Yes, and remember, I am Natasha Romanov, a friend that you met while I was on a mission in Italy, where you were spending a holiday," Nico and Will both nodded and walked out the door with Annabeth.

They got to the tower with no problem and had no trouble getting into the place because Natasha just told people they were with her (which wasn't a lie).

Nico, Will, and Natasha rode the elevator up to the Avenger's main floor where Tony, Steve, Thor, Bruce, and Clint were hanging out.

As soon as Natasha got out of the elevator, all conversation stopped.

"Hey, Natasha, who are these guys?" Tony asked and Natasha rolled her eyes.

"These are my friends, Fury won't give me time off for their wedding so I'm here to show him that I actually have a life outside of work,"

"That's great and all, but who are they," Tony talked to her like she was a two-year-old and Natasha did not appreciate it.

"This is Will Solace and Nico di Angelo," Thor dropped his mug.

"Nico di Angelo and Will Solace?" he asked in awe, both of the demigods nodded awkwardly, Thor raced to them and started asking question after question in Ancient Greek so that the other Avengers couldn't understand.

Nico and Will had a pleasant conversation with Thor who wouldn't stop gaping at them.

"Uh, Nat, you know any friend of yours is a friend of mine, but why is Thor looking at them like that?" Steve asked, a little wary.

"They've done some things that Thor finds inspiring. In fact, I think you'd get along with Nico," Nico heard his name and looked over to Steve and Natasha.

"Did someone say something?" he asked, eyeing Steve warily.

"Yeah, Natasha here think we would get along well for some reason, I'm-"

"Steve Rogers," Nico interrupted him, "The soldier who killed that most Italians in world war two," Steve raised his eyebrow at that,

"Usually people know me as Captain America, but how would you know how many Italian's I've killed?" Nico laughed a harsh cold laugh.

"I was there, I was born in the 1930s, Italy, and my family was told that we had to help with the war effort, I was ten and my sister was thirteen. I was visiting some of my friends, there was a small battle and you came over the hill with your little group of friends," Nico closed his eyes as though reliving a memory, "Have you ever been the only remaining person after a battle, only because you were so small that you could hide in a vegetable crate?" Steve was staring at the boy in shock.

"I never supported that Nazis, never agreed with their ideas and methods, and neither did many of my friends, who were soldiers, but you killed them anyway, you weren't the one to tell their mothers what happened, that had to hear the screams of their sisters, the one that had to look into the eyes of all the dead to check and see if they might be alive, just maybe," Nico's breath shuddered.

Will had a 'Nico sense' as everyone called it, he knew when something was wrong, and he was getting that feeling now.

Will turned around to see Nico talking with Steve Rogers _Oh no_, Will though, Nico had told him the stories about his childhood in Italy. Will knew that Nico never supported the Nazis, in fact, his mother had baked them a cake the day the Americans joined the war, but being forced to hide in a vegetable crate while a super soldier and his friends killed people you considered to be older brothers, that might have put Nico off of the Americans for a while.

Just because he doesn't like the Nazis doesn't mean he has to love the Americans.

Will walked over to Nico and saw that Nico's face was like stone, a sure sign that he was dying inside.

Walking up behind him, Will placed his hand on Nico's shoulder and immediately Nico relaxed a little, leaning into Will. **(AN: I swear I don't hate Capsicle, but Nico was raised during WW2 and in Italy, which was Germany's ally, he was probably surrounded by people who hated the allies, this includes Captain America)**.

"Natasha, where is that boss you want us to meet?" Will asked, using his soothing voice as he always did when Nico was like this.

"He should be arriving soon, I'm sorry Nico, you never talk about this stuff, I had no idea," Nico gave her a small smile.

"It's ok, Natasha, It's my fault for agreeing to come and not telling you, can I just go to the restroom?" Natasha nodded and gave them directions. Nico walked off with Will staying behind.

"I'm sorry about him, he was raised around people who hates you and then you came and killed a lot of his friends, you can't really blame him," Will trailed off and Steve nodded, though he looked sad.

"In some ways, I forgot that I was killing actual people and that they didn't want to be there," Steve's eyes went kind of blank and Will gave him a little smile,

"Don't worry about it, I'm a doctor which means I have to understand the concept of mortality a lot faster than others. It's probably messed me up psychologically, but I don't like to think about It," Will smiled.

"You're a doctor?" Bruce asked from the other side of the room and Will nodded,

"Yeah, I've been training since I was-"

"14, mi amor," Nico had come back and was looking better than before, he smiled lovingly at Will who blushed,

"I did some medical things when I was 14, but I wasn't really training-"

"You saved me from a poisoned knife wound and got me back on my feet in less than a day, you were 14," Natasha said and WIll's face flushed even more.

"You saved me when I had used all of my strength in battle and made me recover, you probably saved more than half the people in that battle, even if you couldn't save everyone, you showed more bravery than any many soldiers," Nico gave Will a kiss on the cheek and Will smiled,

"It's not that big of a deal, I was just doing my job, but delivering Mellie's baby was not fun. I'm not even a midwife!" Nico laughed while Will just looked exasperated.

"Agent Romanov," Came a sharp voice from the entrance. Natasha turned around and saw Director Fury, standing in all his trench coat glory


	8. Chapter 7

"What are these strangers doing in the building?" Fury asked while raising an eyebrow.

Natasha held her head high when she answered him, "These are my friends who are getting married, you didn't believe me when I told you I needed time off of work to help them, now you can see they are real people,"

Fury eyed Nico and Will, suspicion laced in his frown, "Alright," he locked eyes with Natasha, "I would like to ask you all a few questions first, though, why do you need extended time off your job to help with their wedding?"

Will gave Natasha a smirk and looked back at Fury, "Sir, Natasha here is my maid of honor," Natasha gave Will a wide-eyed stare before engulfing him in a bone-crushing hug.

"Will! Are you sure? You don't want to ask Piper? You know I have a busy schedule-" Will laughed at her ramblings.

"There's the Anna- I mean Natasha I know," Will caught himself mid-sentence, but Thor didn't miss the slip-up, though he decided not to comment.

"Oh, Will, I'm so happy, are you alright with this Nico?" Natasha asked the Italian who gave her a rare smile.

"Yes, Will and I talked last night, we both agree you'll be perfect, I wanted my sister to be the maid of honor, but that can't happen," Nico's eyes became glassy and Will squeezed his hand.

"I wanted Hazel or Reyna to be the maid of honor, but they're not with us anymore, you're Will's best friend-"

"Other than you, sunshine,"

"Oh shut up you dork," Nico smiled at Natasha, "and you helped me when I needed it, you are such a great friend and we would be honored if you would be the maid of honor,"

"Of course, you idiots, I could never replace Hazel, Reyna, or Bianca, but I just want to be there for you guys, Will has been one of my best friends since the whole accident and-" Natasha choked up and gave both of them a bone-crushing hug.

"Fuck, I never cry, why am I crying," Natasha pulled away and wiped her eyes.

The trio had forgotten the others were there until Tony cleared his throat.

"Shut it, Stark, or you won't live to see morning," she said while glaring at the man.

"We were thinking of Jason as the best man," Nico whispered and Natasha giggled.

Director Fury had never heard his agent giggle before, and it scared the living daylights out of him.

"Romanov, please explain what the fuck is going on," he yelled and Natasha fixed her expression while Nico and Will both smiled lovingly at each other, caught up in the bliss of wedding ideas.

"I see you do have friends outside work, you have never taken a day off work as long as I've known you, other than that break four years ago, I still have no idea what that was," Fury sighed, "I guess you could have some time off to help... what are your names again?" Fury asked, pulling Nico and Will out of their love trance.

"Nico di Angelo and Will Solace, you won't find my name in any government records though, I was born in the 1930s and got trapped in time for 70 years," Nico spoke.

Will grinned, "At least now that we're in this time, we can get married legally,"

"Wait, it's actually legal for us to get married?" Nico asked and Will looked confused.

"Yeah, in 2015 it became legal in all states,"

"I just thought we were going to have a ceremony, It never occurred to me that it might be legal," Nico's face broke out into a grin, "you are going to be my legally wedded husband," Nico sounded like he couldn't believe it.

"Of course, sunshine, and I wouldn't have it any other way," Will leaned in and kissed Nico, who returned it with a grin.

"Wait, you guys are gay?" Steve spoke and the two boys broke apart, giving him confused looks. (AN: again i don't hate Capsicle, but in WW2 era being gay was not ok and I think it wouldn't be the first thing Steve thought of when he saw Will and Nico)

"I thought it was pretty obvious," Will mumbled and Nico laughed.

"Sorry, I just forget how common it is now, It's crazy how people like you are able to live in peace," Nico gave Steve a small smile while Will shook his head a little.

"While we are allowed to marry, there are still plenty of assholes in the world, just yesterday, Nico and I were walking to the store and holding hands, and an old lady shouted 'fucking Queers' and threw her milkshake at us,"

Steve looked shocked while Natasha looked angry, "Who the hell does she think she is," she growled and Will set a hand on her shoulder.

"Natasha, it's ok, we get these things all the time, it's no big deal, really," instead of calming down, that made her angrier.

"That's not ok! You two deserve happiness and safety!" Natasha looked ready to blow up something and Nico, although he did want her to kick the lady's ass, calmed her down.

"Natasha, it's alright, I take care of most of the people, they always seem to target Will and NOBODY targets Will," Natasha smiled a little.

"Aww, Nico you're a softie," Tony said and Nico shot him one of his death glares, the kind that only Will was immune to.

"Say that again, metal boy," Tony backed away, terrified that such a tiny person could have such a powerful glare.

"My apologies, Ghost King, he does not understand your power," Thor knelt before Nico who looked a little uncomfortable.

"No need to bow, Asgardian, there's no harm done," Thor got up and nodded to Nico, all of the other Avengers looked at him weirdly.

"Anyway, do you guys want to go get something to eat?" Clint suggested.

"That actually sounds good," Steve said and the rest of them agreed, heading towards the elevator.

"Homophobia is a bitch," Natasha mumbled under her breath which caused Will and Nico to laugh, ultimately lifting the mood of the group.


	9. Chapter 8

"Do you guys have anything to ask the great avengers?" Tony spoke up once the group got back to the tower.

Will raised an eyebrow at Nico who shrugged, "Not really, we just ask Natasha, she answers our questions to a satisfactory level," Nico grinned while Natasha rolled her eyes, Nico liked to overcomplicate sentences to confuse other people.

"Ah, yes, are you referring to that one time you almost chocked when she mentioned Cap over here and then demanded to know everything about him until I interrupted and asked for her vegan yogurt brand?" Will asked and Nico blushed while Steve looked a little scared.

"Why did you want to know everything about me?" he asked and Nico threw him a smirk.

"I was just wondering if you would consider me an enemy if you ever met me and wanted to know for fighting weaknesses, I have a mental file on all the people I've ever fought - or planned to fight - so I know how to beat them," Steve looked a little shocked but Natasha just smirked.

"I almost forgot, Nico, your dad wanted me to tell you that he has invited you and Will to dinner at his place to celebrate your engagement," Nico's face drained of any color.

"You better be joking, I swear to the gods," he murmured and Natasha snickered.

"He knew you wouldn't listen if he told you himself so he told me to tell you, Will isn't complaining!" She gestured at the boy who had a tense smile on his face.

"I'm not complaining because I know that Mr. H will actually murder me if I say anything bad about him," Will's face still had that tense smile which made Nico laugh and kissed him on the cheek, the Avengers looked a little worried.

"Isn't that illegal?" Clint asked and Will nodded,

"Yup, but that won't stop him, when I first started dating Nico he said 'If you ever hurt my son I will make you crave death, and even in death you will be tortured,' so I try not to anger him," the Avengers all looked a little confused and shocked but Will assured them that it was no big deal.

"If we do have to go to dinner with my father, we better get going so we can shower and get changed," Nico suggested and Will nodded.

"Yeah, let's head off, Sunshine," Will grabbed Nico's hand and they both waved to the Avengers as the elevator doors closed.

"What do you think?" Natasha spun around and looked into the faces of her team, wanting to see some sort of reaction.

"They were cool," Tony offered and Natasha shot him a glare,

" 'cool'? You spend a whole day with them and all you can use to describe them is 'cool'?" Natasha sounded exasperated and Steve shrugged,

"I mean, the whole thing with Nico being from the 1930s was weird but they seemed like pretty chill people," Natasha valued what her teammates had to say, but they could be incredibly dull a lot of the time.

"I felt honored meeting Nico di Angelo and Will Solace, two heroes, almost as brave as Percy Jackson," suddenly Thor's face turned to shock, "I forgot to ask them for a photo!" Thor looked like he was about to run to the window and jump out to chase after them but Bruce put a hand on his shoulder.

"Woah, I'm sure Natasha could bring them around again, they didn't just disappear," Bruce reasoned and Thor looked a little calmer.

"How do you know them again?" Clint asked and Thor's face turned to a dreamy expression,

"They were also heroes in the prophecy about Percy Jackson, what Nico has done is amazing and anyone on Azgaurd would be honored to bow before him,"

"That's why you bowed?" Natasha asked and Thor nodded vigorously,

"I didn't want to make him feel uncomfortable so I decided to wait for the right opportunity to show my respect, thankfully the man of iron gave me that opportunity," everyone looked at Tony who was obliviously sipping on a milkshake JARVIS made for him.

"What?" he asked, looking up at the group, Steve just sighed, Bruce chuckled.

After a few minutes of comfortable silence, Bruce asked: "What time is it?" Natasha shrugged and Clint checked his watch.

"2:50," he said and Natasha's eyes went wide.

"I have to go!" She screamed, picking up a bag and running to the elevator, she could faintly hear her teammates asking each other questions about what she was doing, but she didn't have the time to worry about that.

Annabeth had promised to pick up Luke from daycare.

Daycare ended at 3:00

Shit.

Annabeth ran into the first public bathroom outside the tower and went into a stall, she removed her tight leather clothing and facial changing technology, her blonde hair falling over her shoulders in waves.

Annabeth put on a loose hoodie that read 'New Rome College'. It always made her feel sad but she felt like if she threw it away she would be dishonoring the memories of all that had died there.

Annabeth ran down the busy streets of New York City, hastily apologizing to the people she ran into.

Annabeth was breathing hard when she stopped in front of the daycare, just in time to hear the babble of kids leaving their classrooms.

"Mommy!" A voice yelled as something small but heavy collided with Annabeth's legs.

Luke Jackson was beaming up at his mom, his eyes bright and full of life, "We made drawings of our family today in class, I drew you, Daddy, Uncle Will, Uncle Nico, Uncle Jason, and Aunt Piper! Are they coming over for dinner tonight?" Luke asked excitedly.

Annabeth smiled and kissed his nose, "Uncle Will and Uncle Nico aren't, but I'm pretty sure Daddy is the only good cook in our family, so Uncle Jason and Aunt Piper will probably come over," Luke giggled and jumped up and down.

"Let's go, Mommy, I want to say hi to the cat on the way home," Luke skipped off, pulling Annabeth along.

'The cat' was an old stray that had been living outside their apartment building since the group of demigods moved in. This particular cat was not as hostile as most New York alley cats, it was so calm, in fact, that Luke could pet him softly.

Percy and Annabeth knew that Luke loved that cat, so they started looking after it.

They didn't adopt it, but they made sure it was alive every day, gave it some cat food if they found it on sale, and left a little dish of water out on the hot days.

Luke and Annabeth turned onto the alley and Luke started looking for the cat, making little noises.

Annabeth looked around too, but she couldn't find the cat, she looked under boxes, inside milk crates, but the cat was nowhere to be found.

Annabeth was pulled away from her quest to find the missing feline by loud coughing from the end of the alley.

Annabeth knew, logically, that this could be a monster, but, what was the saying? Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.

She had to investigate.

"Luke, be ready to run inside," Annabeth said, Luke looked up at his mom who was in a battle pose,

"Why?"

"I'm not sure what's coughing, but it might not be nice. When I say so, you run inside, grab Aunt Piper and tell her what happened, then stay inside, no matter what you hear," Annabeth could tell that she was scaring Luke, but what else could she do if this was a bad monster?

Annabeth crept closer to the end of the alley, it was harder to see but Annabeth could make out the outline of a figure, something that was quite large and burley. The figure made another coughing noise.

Annabeth drew out her dagger, ready to strike if necessary, and spoke: "What do you want,".

Annabeth was expecting a monster, a baby hellhound perhaps? Maybe it was a homeless person, though it looked bigger than the average man.

She could hear Luke behind her, unsure whether Annabeth wanted him to run and get Piper yet, or if he should wait.

The figure turned around and Annabeth nearly dropped her dagger.

It wasn't a monster,

It wasn't dangerous,

And it certainly wasn't there to kill them.

**Ok, I don't to authors notes a lot, but I wanted to share something and I don't really have anywhere else to do it. This doesn't relate to the plot of the story so you don't need to read this if you don't want to. My parents have been taking away everything on my phone, all the access to apps that I use to help myself calm down from panic attacks and other things. I have depression (I've been medically diagnosed) and my mom thinks that getting rid of my phone will 'cure' me. I've had more panic attacks in the past week than I have in the last month and that's because I don't have access to the things I used to use. Sorry if this affects my upload schedule in any way, I will try my best to stay consistent! :)**

**For sneak peeks and updates follow rox_fanfics on Instagram!**


	10. Chapter 9

"Frank?" Annabeth asked, her voice wavering and her knees feeling weak.

"Hey, Annabeth," her old friend said, his voice raspy and his lips cracked.

Annabeth pointed her dagger at him, "You're not Frank, Frank died years ago, along with everyone else, who are you?" She was almost yelling at this point but she honestly couldn't care less.

Someone thought that they could just show up and pretend to be one of her long lost friends that dies years ago and they would get away with it? Not on her watch.

"I am Frank, I swear," Frank hung his head, his frame was much smaller than it had been the last time Annabeth saw him, though he was still massive.

"Who is that, Mommy?" A small voice spoke from behind Annabeth and she jumped, having forgotten that Luke was there.

"Luke, run and get Aunt Piper, stay inside," Annabeth instructed, she heard Luke's feet run from the alley and sighed in relief.

"Look, I have a son and a family, I've been trained to torture when I need to, who are you," Annabeth way stepping closer to the thing that looked like Frank.

"Listen, Annabeth, I am Frank, the monsters couldn't kill me and I turned into the alley cat you've been feeding for the past three years, I wasn't killed by the monsters, but the did manage to curse me, I couldn't change back into a person but I always try. Today I tried and I could," Annabeth nearly dropped her dagger.

"You've been that cat for the past three years? And you never made it known to us?" Annabeth felt hurt, had he just been hiding from them for three years?

"I tried to get you to understand, but it's really hard to communicate with people when you're a cat," Frank tried to smile but winced. Annabeth noticed how weak he looked.

"When Piper gets here-"

"When I get here, what?" A voice came from the opening of the alley, Annabeth turned around to see Piper in a stained hoodie and some black leggings.

As soon as Piper caught sight of Frank, she froze, "Frank," she whispered, her face pale.

"Hey, Piper," Frank gave her a small smile.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON HERE!" Piper screamed after a moment of silence, giving Annabeth a shocked expression.

"I don't know, Piper, care to explain?" Annabeth directed her words at 'Frank' who looked sad.

"I am Frank, I swear, can you please give me some water or food? I haven't eaten in a few days," Frank did look quite skinny, but he had been living as an alley cat for the past few years which Annabeth assumed would do that to a person.

"Yes, come on, we'll get you something to eat," Annabeth grabbed Frank's arm and pulled him up so he was standing.

He was still considerably taller than her but looked weaker than ever.

Piper and Annabeth helped Frank into their apartment and sat him down on at the dining room table.

Annabeth went to get a glass of water and some leftover Chinese food from a couple of days ago.

Annabeth returned to see Piper bombarding Frank with question after question, which he answered truthfully to her knowledge.

"Why didn't you try and tell us you were a cat?"

"What was I supposed to do, keep pawing at you until you though 'huh, maybe this cat isn't actually a cat, it might be our dead friend'?"

"Why weren't you able to turn back into a human until today?"

"I tried every day, it never worked until now, the monsters must have cursed me or something, I really don't know,"

"Do you know if anyone else is alive?"

Frank went quiet, his eyes watering, "I don't remember anyone actually dying, all I can remember is a lot of screaming, even Reyna was screaming," Frank closed his eyes and a single tear slid down his face, Piper looked like she wanted to cry too.

"Reyna screamed?" Annabeth asked, she almost dropped the water she was holding before pushing it in front of Frank.

"It was terrifying, I've never heard Reyna scream before, in all our years of working together as Praetor, not once," Frank looked like his mind was far away and he jumped when Piper put her hand on his arm.

Piper suddenly sobbed and wrapped her arms around him, "I'm so fucking happy you're alive," her face was streaming with tears as she clutched onto him.

Annabeth joined her, clutching onto Frank and crying.

"I never cry, I've cried twice today, what's wrong with me!" She said exasperatedly which caused Frank to laugh.

"Mommy! Why are you crying, why is aunt Piper crying, who is this, where is that cat?" Luke appeared out of his room clutching his Nemo plush.

"Luke, this is Frank, he's an old friend of mine, he wanted to meet you so badly, but we thought he was dead. Frank was the cat. Can you turn back into it?" Annabeth asked Frank and he shrugged.

"I could try," Frank closed his eyes and there stood the alley cat, shabby as ever, Luke looked amazed.

"SO COOL!" He yelled and Annabeth laughed, Frank turned back into himself.

"We have to call the boys!" Piper said, her eyes wide, Annabeth nodded and motioned for Piper to get her phone out of her pocket.

"Hey, Luke, do you want a snack?" Annabeth asked and Luke nodded excitedly, running towards the kitchen.

"Frank, I'm so sorry we weren't able to notice sooner, would another alley cats let my son pet them and pull their tail?" Annabeth laughed and Frank grinned, grabbing the cup of water and taking a drink.

"I called the boys!" Piper yelled and smiled sinisterly, "I didn't tell them what happened, just that they should be here as soon as possible," Annabeth rolled her eyes at her best friend.

"Nico and Will have dinner with Hades tonight, they probably won't be coming until tomorrow morning but Percy is on his way here and he promised to pick up Jason on the way," Piper said and Annabeth nodded.

The three of them and Luke sat down on the sofa (after Frank had taken a shower and eaten) and tried to update Frank on what was happening in their lives.

Annabeth heard the door open and looked around to see Percy and Jason frozen in the doorway, Jason dropped his briefcase and Percy dropped his water bottle.

"FRANK!" Percy yelled before engulfing him in a bone-crushing hug, Annabeth smiled and tried to enjoy her night but a thought didn't leave her head.

What if the others are alive too?


	11. Chapter 10

"Nat, are you ok? You've been kind of distant the last few days," Clint sat next to Natasha on the sofa of Avengers tower, their teammates currently doing their own things in other rooms.

"Yeah," Natasha smiled, an actual smile, not her usual smirk, "one of my friends who I thought was dead turned out to be alive, he had been living under my nose the whole time but he wasn't able to communicate with me, I'm really happy he's alive," Clint smiled.

"That's great, is he a…" Clint trailed off, aware that any conversation they had wouldn't be completely private in this high tech tower, Natasha nodded.

"Yeah, we thought he had died in the attacks but he managed to escape, thank the gods," Clint looked like he wanted to talk some more but Tony burst into the room at that very moment.

"Alright, I managed to do the extraordinary, I know we met him a while ago, but I convinced Percy Jackson to actually come here and test some underwater technology I've been working on, I know, I'm amazing, no need to clap," Tony stood in the middle of the room, he then looked around and seemed to notice that Natasha and Clint were the only ones in the room.

"Shit, where is Banner when you need him, or Thor for that matter, he seems to like the guy," Tony grumbled and went to find Bruce.

"Did Percy tell you about this?" Clint whispered to Natasha who nodded.

"Yes, we had a discussion about if yesterday, he knew it would hard for both of us to pretend not to know each other as well as we do, but in the end, the benefits that Stark's technology could have on marine life outweighed our discomfort," Natasha answered in a low voice.

Clint was about to speak when the heard a very loud squeal, Natasha rolled her eyes and said, "I think Thor has been informed of Percy's future visit," Clint snorted.

"Who was that?" Steve came out of the elevator in a tank-top that was sticking to him with sweat.

"That was Thor, and go change your shirt, you looked gross and probably smell worse," Natasha made a shooing motion with her hand.

"Alright, but most women would love to see me in a sweaty tank-top," Steve called over his shoulder as he walked back to his room.

Natasha huffed, "Well, I'm married to someone who looks even better after a training session," she mumbled and Clint laughed.

"No arguments there, I'm as straight as a ruler but your man could bend me if he tried… that came out way dirtier than I meant it to," Natasha threw her head back and laughed at her friend's expense.

"Someone call Fury, his robot is malfunctioning," Tony strode in the room pointing at Natasha who glared at him.

"Shove it, Stark,"

"That isn't very ladylike, is it Ms. Romanov," Tony mocked her causing Natasha to snort.

"You want to talk about ladylike? I was trained in Russia, I could name swear words you've never even heard of while drinking vodka like it's water," this wasn't true of course, Natasha had been trained at Camp Half-Blood.

"You sure can beat that husband of yours in a drinking game, I remember when he was passed out on the floor and you were dancing to the macarena on top of the bar," Clint laughed, then realized his mistake.

"Husband?" Steve asked, coming back into the room with a new shirt on, he eyes narrowed.

"Um-uh-no-I-" Clint stuttered, giving Natasha a panicked look.

She sighed.

"Yes, I'm married, have been for almost seven years," Tony looked stunned while Clint kept on apologizing.

"It's alright, Clint, we all have slip-ups, it would have come up sooner or later with the amount of time we spend together," Natasha reassured Clint then rubbed her temples, the facial changing technology gave her a headache sometimes.

"So you actually have human emotions for another person," Tony said, brandishing a spoon he had been about to use to eat a pint of ice cream.

"Considering that fact that he's the love of my life and has been with me for about ten years, yeah, I think that counts as human emotions,"

"All right, no need to get testy Ms. Firecracker, just making my usual sarcastic comments," Tony opened the ice cream pint and dug his spoon in, eating at the speed of light.

"Is there any chance that we know him?" Steve asked warily, his eyebrows raised, Natasha smirked,

"Yup, you've all met him," Tony dropped his spoon, then quickly picked it up,

"Is it Nico?" he asked, Natasha looked at him, saw he was serious and almost fell off the couch laughing.

"N-no," she cried, "Nico is the gayest dude I've ever met, I think of him as a little brother of sorts, plus he's getting married to Will! Did you miss them asking me to be the maid of honor?" Tony just shrugged.

"Worth a shot, you realize I'm going to start naming every single person we've ever met, right?" Tony sat on a chair opposite Natasha and Clint, Natasha sighed in annoyance.

"I'll join you," Steve sat in the chair next to Tony, giving Natasha a curious glance.

"What are you guys doing?" Bruce asked, walking into the room with a cup of coffee he kept away from his face to stop his glasses from fogging.

"Natasha just told us that she's married, has been for seven years, and we've met the guy, help us guess who it is," Tony said, Bruce looked at Natasha who just shrugged in a challenging manner.

"You guys will never be able to guess who it is," Natasha crossed her arms across her chest and smirked.

Tony, Steve, and Bruce spent the next hour trying to guess who the mystery man was to no avail.

"This is pointless, we're never going to get it, and even if we do, she won't tell us," Bruce said but Tony just shook his head.

"Natasha, are we going to be seeing him in the future?" He asked, Natasha nodded, "We'll make a bet, you have to beat Steve in combat or, the next time you see him, you have to go straight up and kiss him," Natasha raised an eyebrow, exasperated.

"Honestly, I'd do anything to shut you up at this point," Tony cheered and grabbed Steve, pulling him towards the elevator that leads to the training room, Natasha, Clint, and Bruce trailing behind.

"Don't go easy on her, Capsicle," Tony warned before Natasha stepped on the mat.

"Ready old man?" Natasha taunted, Steve just grinned,

"As I'll ever be," Steve lept straight into an attack which Natasha blocked just in time. They continued this pattern for a while, Steve attacking while Natasha blocked.

He's trying to tire you out, a voice in Natasha's head whispered, but Natasha knew it wasn't her own voice.

But she knew that voice.

It was her mother.

'Nice for you to finally show up,' Natasha thought, 'you could have told us that Frank was alive, that he was a cat, that might have been important information, but no, you decide to reach out when I'm sparring with a teammate,'

Natasha waited for a response, but nothing came, 'stupid gods,' she thought.

Natasha was so caught up with cursing her mother under her breath that she didn't notice Steve's fist coming right towards her face.


	12. Chapter 11

Natasha's vision went blurry for a moment, she vaguely registered that she was on the ground and her nose felt really painful,

Told you so, a voice said, Annabeth had never hated her mother more than at this moment.

"Natasha, I'm sorry, I didn't think I was punching that hard, I thought you would block it, sorry," Steve said as he kneeled next to her.

"Where is the nearest hospital!" Clint said,

"I'm a doctor," Bruce said, but Natasha put her hand up to stop him from getting on the ground, knowing he would pull off her facial changing technology if he touched her face.

"No need, just call Will, he knows how to deal with this," Bruce looked even more worried,

"Did she get a concussion?" He whispered to Tony who shrugged, Natasha attempted to roll her eyes but it gave her a headache so she stopped.

"Will has patched me up countless times, I trust him to do it again," Bruce was about to respond when Natasha's phone rang, she picked it up and realized it was a video call with Nico, she hit accept.

Nico was old fashioned, he never liked talking with people on the phone unless he could see their face so he always used video calls.

"Hey, Natasha I was just- what the fuck happened to your nose?" Nico was standing in his apartment, a bag slung over his shoulder.

"I'm fine, can you just tell Will to get his ass over here?" Natasha glared at the smirking Nico,

"On levels of danger, is this a poisoned knife in the back or a Mrs. O'Leary?" Nico asked, still grinning, Natasha raised an eyebrow.

"Well, now it's a Mrs. O'Leary, Cap forgot to pull his punches," Nico's eyes darkened,

"I'll get Will over there right away, but I wanted to ask, can your guy cook for the eight of us? It feels really weird saying 'the eight of us' but can he?" Natasha nodded and Nico sighed with relief, "Thank the gods, Will forgot to buy groceries last night because um-" Nico's cheeks heated up and Natasha grinned then stopped, it hurt her nose.

"Did you distract Will from getting the groceries last night, is that why I heard a squeaking bed frame upstairs?" Nico blushed even more.

"Shut up or I won't bring Will to heal you, I mean it,"

"Well, he might have had to use all of his healing abilities on you if the thudding from last night was anything to go by," Nico gave her his death glare.

"Do you want Will or not,"

"Yes I do, I'm sorry, you must have an amazing virgin life, no premarital sex for you, my guy," Nico rolled his eyes and ended the call.

"You have weird conversations with Nico," Tony observed, Natasha just shrugged, propping herself up on her arms.

"That's nothing compared to conversations Will and I have, once we had managed to get onto the conversation topic of: do chickens know that their eggs are going to turn into chicks or do they just poop out an oval and go 'ok, gotta look after it,'" Tony looked taken aback.

"That is very weird," Bruce commented before remembering that Natasha's nose might be broken. He was about to do something when the elevator bell dinged.

"Anna- Natasha I swear, I'm not a field medic, well, I kind of am but that's no the point!" Will Solace had arrived, he saw her nose and rolled his eyes, "Really? You asked me to help you over a punched nose?" Will got on the floor next to Natasha and pulled out a first-aid kit.

"Sorry, I knew you could heal it faster than any other doctor though," Will just sighed and put his hand on either side of Natasha's face.

"Damn, the facial-" he stopped himself, remember that all of the Avengers were listening to their conversation.

"I can't really tell if your nose is actually broken or just running," Will tried to explain, Annabeth understood.

"Alright, Stark, you won the bet about me kissing my husband when I see him, can you guys leave so Will can actually heal me?" She asked, her nose throbbing more with every minute.

"Yeah, just one question, how did you get here so fast?" Steve asked, his question directed at Will who was currently using a towel to dab at Natasha's face.

"I was actually just walking past the building when Nico called me, luckily enough," Natasha knew that Will was a terrible liar, his father is the god of truth and all, but she had to admit that he had been improving.

"Ok, we'll leave you to do what you need to," the boys all walked out of the training room leaving Will and Annabeth alone.

"Alright, you need to take off the technology if you want me to see how bad it actually is," Will instructed, Annabeth sighed and reached to remove the cloaking technology as she had done so many times before.

Will placed his hands on either side of her face and closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them, smiling.

"Good news, it's not broken, just eat this ambrosia and you'll be ready to go," Will gave her a small smile and handed her the amber cake.

Annabeth ate it quickly, the taste of ambrosia had changed over the years. It used to be Camp half-blood's marshmallows from the campfire, that had always been home for her, but now they tasted like Percy's homemade pizza, it was something that he only made on the weekends (or when Luke used his baby seal eyes).

Annabeth loved it when he made pizza, not just the pizza itself. Percy would always pick up Luke and let him roll the dough out, both of them laughing as Luke tried his best to make a circle.

That was home.

Annabeth knew that the ambrosia would take a second to do its magic but she needed to talk to Will.

Will made to stand up but Annabeth grabbed his sleeve.

"Will, my mother talked to me during my fight," Will's eyes went wide and he crouched next to Annabeth.

"I was sparing with Steve and was trying to figure out what his plan was, then my mom said 'he's trying to tire you out' and I tried to respond, but nothing happened, I lost my focus, and here I am," Will looked over his friend with a worried face.

"The gods haven't contacted us since the attacks, remember how hard we tried to reach them for a few months afterward?" Will asked, Annabeth sat up and nodded, putting her technology back on.

"Yeah, why would they contact us now?" Annabeth asked.

It wasn't often that Annabeth didn't know things, and she didn't like it.

"I don't know," Will sighed, "I'll try to contact Apollo, but he hasn't answered me in years, maybe they're ashamed that they couldn't protect all of us?" Will sounded almost hopeful but Annabeth could tell that he didn't believe himself.

"Yeah, maybe," Annabeth didn't want to argue with her friend when they were all so vulnerable.

Yes, Frank coming back was good and they were happy, but it also opened up old memories that Annabeth hadn't thought about for a long time.

"Ok, well, I need to go to an appointment, you're lucky Nico caught me before I could get inside the room," Will laughed and Annabeth looked worried,

"Oh no, were you busy?" Annabeth asked, her expression worried, Will shook his head,

"No, it's alright, Nico and I were just going to look at wedding venues today and he can do that without me, the gods know he has better taste than me," Will gestured towards his outfit (a bright blue shirt with beige shorts and green flip-flops).

"Ok, thanks for healing me, but you need to get that appointment!" Annabeth stood up and playfully shoved Will towards the elevator, Will laughed and mock saluted her.

"Will do, Ms. Romanov/Jackson/Chase," Annabeth rolled her eyes as Will pressed the correct button on the elevator and waved goodbye to her.

Maybe the world would make sense one day, but today was not that day.

This point was proven when the door burst open to reveal Tony and Steve with their weapons out, Burce looking betrayed, and Clint giving Annabeth a worried look.

"Who are you and where is Natasha?"


	13. Chapter 12

"What the Hades are you talking about, I am Natasha, you moron," Annabeth tried to keep her voice from shaking, she had forgotten about Stark's cameras.

"Then who was that blonde girl on the cameras, if you really are Natasha, let's just touch your face and see if there's any technology there," Stark was fuming.

Annabeth put up her hands in a surrendering position, aware of the metal glove on Tony's arm,

"Let me explain everything, I know you have no right to trust me right now, but Will can back me up on what I'm about to say," Annabeth looked back at her friend who widened his eyes at her.

"Alright, but you better make this quick because I have to meet Nico soon, he hates being late," the Avengers all looked quite surprised that Will was handling this so casually.

"How are we supposed to trust you, you're in on this as well," Steve said, Will just shrugged.

"Just let her speak, I think it would be best if you take off the stuff," Will said to Annabeth who sighed.

Taking off the technology would be like taking off a piece of armor, she could hide behind this false person and live without any consequences, keeping her loved ones out of her work and away from danger.

Taking off this mask would end that.

With a shaky hand, Annabeth reached up and pulled the technology off, her blonde curly hair falling over her shoulders.

"My name is Annabeth Chase, but you know me as Natasha Romanoff," Annabeth locked eyes with Thor who looked like he might pass out.

Thor fell to his knees, "Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena, one of the seven, you are still alive?" Thor's mouth was hanging open.

"Yes," Annabeth sighed, "After the attacks on both camps, I couldn't risk putting my family in danger, but I still wanted to help people, so I joined SHIELD under a false name and identity," The avengers all looked suspicious, Annabeth couldn't blame them.

"Ask me something only the real Natasha would know," she suggested, Bruce thought for a moment,

"When did we meet for the first time?" Bruce asked, Annabeth smiled a little,

"I had gotten one of my friends in the area to pretend like her father was sick and tricked you to come to the edge of the village. You tried to scare me and I pulled out a gun but didn't have to use it," Bruce looked a little surprised but tried to hide it.

"That's correct," Bruce exchanged a look with Tony and Steve who were still holding their weapons.

"Guys, I've known about this for a long time, this is Natasha, or Annabeth, whatever you want to call her, it's always been this way," Clint tried to reason with them, Thor looked shocked,

"You mean that I've been working with Annabeth Chase for the past few months?" Thor's mouth was hanging open comically.

"Yes, I never planned to tell you guys because I needed to protect my family, but you were going to find out who my husband was anyway, no point hiding it now." Annabeth's face became stony,

"But, I also have a son, you will never find him, never meet him, my husband can take care of himself, you can never meet my son, he will not be dragged into this world," everyone, even Clint, looked terrified at Annabeth's glare.

"Ok, we get it, don't ask about your son, but you have a son?" Tony asked and Annabeth glared at him.

"Yes, but you can never ask a single question about him, I will know if you try to find out who he is, so don't try it, Stark," Tony raised his hands in a defensive manner.

"Ok, so why were you pretending to be someone else?" Steve asked, Annabeth sighed.

"I will answer all of your questions later, but Will needs to get to his appointment with Nico and I promised to pick up my husband after work today, don't try following me, I'll know," Annabeth left the threat hanging in the air as she walked towards the elevator, Will following behind her.

"Are you sure it's a good idea to go to Percy right after they learned your identity?" Will whispered to Annabeth, she smirked.

"I was going to have to kiss him in front of them anyway, I know that they're going to follow me anyway, might as well make it entertaining for myself. It would be quite funny to see Tony fall out of a tree when I pick up Percy," Will laughed and they both rode the elevator down to the car park.

Annabeth got into her car (technically, it was Percy's car as well and they traded days with it) a blue Nissan x trail (Annabeth chose the model, Percy chose the color).

After a while, Annabeth pulled up in front of Stony Brook University where Percy had started giving lectures every once and a while over the past years, Percy had a knack for teaching, after all of the shitty teachers he's had in his life he decided that he would be better than that.

A couple of universities reached out to him and he decided to try it out, turns out he was pretty good and enjoyed it.

Annabeth parked outside the university and waited for a while, scrolling through her phone.

Someone knocked on the window and Annabeth looked up to see Percy, his smile bright as ever.

Annabeth stepped out of the car with a smile on her face as well, she walked up to Percy and gave him a lingering kiss, they haven't had time alone for a while and they cherished it.

Yes, they loved Luke, but having children could be demanding, and they needed time to be alone together.

"How are you, Wise Girl?" Percy asked, his face covered in a light stubble (he always forgets to shave).

Annabeth grinned, "I'm doing great, Seaweed Brain, are you ready to go?" Percy nodded, gave her another kiss, and got into the car.

Annabeth was about to get in when she heard something heavy fall behind her.

Tony was sprawled out on the grass in his suit, obviously having just fallen from the tree beside him.

"YOUR HUSBAND IS PERCY JACKSON!" he screamed.


	14. Chapter 13

"Annabeth, how do you know Tony?" Percy tried his best to keep his cool.

Percy knew that 'Natasha' worked with Tony but 'Annabeth' had never met Tony.

"Percy, Tony knows who I am, it got revealed earlier today, I was going to tell you in the car but Tony ruined that," Annabeth glared at Tony but he was too busy gaping at Percy.

Percy sighed and rubbed his temples, Annabeth could tell that he's had a stressful day, this wasn't helping.

"Percy, what do you want to do, I know you're stressed," Percy smiled lovingly at Annabeth.

What had he ever done to deserve her? Annabeth could read him like a book, so much so that Percy didn't even need to open his mouth to convey emotions.

"I'm going to be working with Tony for other things, we should explain some stuff," Annabeth nodded and wrapped her arms around his waist. Percy pressed his face into the crook of Annabeth's neck.

"Alright, I'll deal with it, you start the car," Percy smiled and pecked her on the lips before getting into the car. Annabeth turned to face Tony who was still on the ground.

"Tony, we don't have the patience to deal with you right now, but I know you're going to follow us or go tell Fury about what you've seen so we're going to tell you what's happening," Tony got up quickly.

"Hold on, what's your real name? Do I just call you backstabbing blondie?" Annabeth smirked and motioned for Tony to get into the car.

Tony managed to get into the back seat with his suit on, Annabeth got in the front because there was a car seat in the back.

Tony eyed the car seat and raised his eyebrow, "Where's your kid?" Annabeth gave him her death glare.

"I told you, you will never know anything about him, stop asking," Tony raised his hands up,

"Alright, blondie, I won't ask, now what's going on?" Annabeth rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Alright, do you know anything about the Greek gods?" Annabeth asked, Tony looked confused,

"What the hell does greek mythology have to do with anything?" Percy gave Annabeth a smirk as though saying, 'you're going to have a hard time with this one'.

"It has a lot to do with it, now answer the question, do you know anything about the Greek gods?" Tony rolled his eyes and nodded.

"Alright, well, they're real and we are their children," Tony stayed silent for a moment before he started laughing.

"Alright, alright, you got me, what is ACTUALLY going on?" Annabeth sighed.

"I'm not joking, my mother is Athena, though I haven't heard from her in about five years, until today that was," Percy almost crashed the car.

"You heard from Athena? What did she say? I'm going to kill the gods if they actually expect us to go on another quest," Annabeth laughed and hung her head.

"I had to fight Steve and couldn't figure out his strategy, Athena said 'he's trying to wear you out' and I got distracted, then Steve was able to punch me in the face," Percy glared at the windshield.

"He did what?"

"Percy, we were fighting, that's what happens when you spar, it's no big deal, Will healed me,"

"But he punched you,"

"Percy, I don't need you to protect me, I can look after myself,"

Percy was still glaring at the windshield, "I know, but it's hard to hear about you getting hurt, I can't lose you, I couldn't handle it," Percy's knuckles were white on the steering wheel, Annabeth rubbed his shoulder.

"I feel like I should be leaving you two alone," Tony said after a moment of silence, Annabeth glared at Tony.

"Anyway, you can't tell Fury about this, he'll figure out who our son is and our son will NEVER be part of this world, I would rather die than put him in danger,".

Tony looked out the window and raised his eyebrow, "Where are we going?" Percy shrugged,

"We're just going back to the Avenger's tower, we're not inviting you to our place," Tony pouted,

"Why not?"

"Where do you think our son lives?" Tony shrugged.

"Fine, I won't follow you back to your house, but can I tell the other guys about this?" Tony asked Annabeth, she just shrugged.

"Will I be able to stop you?" Tony thought for a moment,

"Nope," Annabeth rolled her eyes and gave Percy an exasperated look.

"Tony, am I still invited to work with you with your technology?" Tony's eyes went wide as though he had forgotten that the man sitting in front of him was THE Percy Jackson.

"Yes, of course, is there anything you need from me before we meet again?" Tony asked, Percy just smiled.

"Nah, I'll be alright, see you on a few days," Percy said as they pulled up in front of Avenger's tower.

Annabeth felt herself relaxing as Tony got out of the car, Percy saw this and put his hand on her shoulder.

"It's alright, Wise Girl, we'll get through this," Annabeth sighed and buried her face in Percy's shoulder.

"I just wanted to help people without putting you in danger, now that's gone. People could figure out who I am and threaten you," Annabeth felt a wave of emotion wash over her.

"It's alright, we'll get through this together, just like we always do," Annabeth smiled at Percy and felt her worries melting away.

Of course, she was still thinking about all the things that had happened today, but she felt like she could deal with them later, for now, she just wanted to be with Percy.

"I do have something else to tell you, something Will told me when he healed me today," Percy raised his eyebrow, obviously curious and a little worried.

"Are you ready to have another kid?"


	15. Chapter 14

Percy and Annabeth were both smiling like idiots when they finally got home.

"We're having another kid," Percy repeated to himself for the thirteenth time that day, Annabeth grinned.

"Who's having a what now?" Came Frank's voice from inside their apartment.

Frank had been living with them for almost a week and Annabeth had gotten used to him. It turns out that Frank was a great guest, he always cleaned up the dishes in the sink (even though Annabeth had told him MANY times to not worry about it) and he played with Luke when Annabeth and Percy were busy.

Percy silently asked Annabeth if he could tell Frank and Annabeth nodded. Percy grinned like a madman.

"Annabeth is pregnant," Percy said, Frank jumped up from his seat and gave both of them his signature bear hug, Annabeth laughed and hugged him back.

"How long have you known?" He asked,

"I found out a few days ago, that's why I asking you to pick up Luke that day, I had already taken a pregnancy test and I made an appointment to make sure I was right before I told you," Percy was still smiling like crazy.

Annabeth was happy, she always knew that she wanted a big family and she was sure that she could look after another child.

What scared her was the fact that she wouldn't be able to hide this from the Avengers, Annabeth knew that she couldn't do as many physically demanding missions now that she had a baby to worry about.

She wanted to wait a little bit before she told the team, she would come up with other excuses when it came to her ability to do certain things, tell them that she just didn't feel like drinking or eating certain things, but she knew she would have to tell them sooner or later.

Even though she hadn't been truthful to the Avengers that didn't mean that she didn't care about them, they were her team and she would always look out for them and care for them.

Annabeth felt bad for lying to them, Bruce looked so hurt once she explained everything, but there was no way in Tartarus she would let her family become part of her dangerous work.

Annabeth got up early the next morning, boiling herself a cup of tea and putting some bread in the toaster.

Annabeth felt strong arms wrap around her torso as she poured the water into her cup, Percy's stubble scratching her cheek.

"Morning Wise Girl," he mumbled, kiss her cheek lightly as he let her go and poured himself some coffee.

"I have a meeting with some executives today, I technically still work for Tony and he likes me to intimidate people," Percy laughed while he blew into the steaming cup in his hand.

"Natasha is very intimidating but I prefer Annabeth," Percy leaned in and gave her a proper kiss, Annabeth set her tea on the kitchen counter and sighed into his mouth.

Annabeth missed having mornings like this, life seemed to move so fast all the time but Percy was able to slow her down.

"Mommy, Daddy, you're gross!" a little voice screamed just as Percy deepened the kiss.

Annabeth pulled away and smiled at Luke.

"You think that's gross? I'll show you gross," Annabeth said as she picked up Luke, kissing his little face all over.

"Mommy! Stop!" Luke was giggling and squealing, trying to get out of Annabeth's grasp.

"But I love you!" Annabeth said as she continued to kiss the still laughing Luke.

Eventually Annabeth put Luke down, the toddler now out of breath and smiling.

"I have to go now, little clownfish, Daddy's going to take you to daycare and Mommy will pick you up," Annabeth smiled as Luke.

"Ok, can I bring over a friend? His name is Jake and he's really cool, he said he wants to be my friend," Luke was a little red in the face and Annabeth could tell that it wasn't from laughing.

"Sure, Daddy will have to talk with Jake's parents but if they say yes it shouldn't be a problem," Percy was giving Annabeth a knowing smile as Luke jumped up and down with excitement.

"So, tell me about Jake," Annabeth heard Percy saying as she walked out, her technology on her face and a black dress on.

Annabeth usually wore her leather outfit when she was meeting with the Avengers but she wore more professional clothing when she had to act like 'Tony Stark's assistant'.

Once she arrived at the tower she took the lift to the Avenger's area knowing Tony would probably be there.

"Hello, Blondie," came Tony's voice as she entered his lab, Annabeth rolled her eyes.

"Tony, you can address me however you want when there's no one else around but if you value your life in any form, don't tell anyone else about my true identity," Tony grumbled and continued working on his suit.

"Is Peper dealing with this meeting or do I actually have to go?" he asked as Annabeth sat on a chair and pulled out her phone.

"Pepper will be there but I think it's something you will want to hear, it has to do with our recent New York battle," she explained, Tony raised his eyebrow.

"Why are we talking about that? We saved the city," Tony wasn't looking at Natasha but he could almost hear her eyes rolling.

"We also destroyed most of the city during the attack, and yes you paid for it, but that doesn't mean people aren't upset," Tony was grumbling under his breath as he finally set down his tools and turned to face Annabeth.

"Fine, I'll go, but don't expect me to actually care," Tony said as he walked out of the room, Annabeth scoffing.

"You should care a little, people died in the attack, I just glad I got my family out before it started," Annabeth's eyes looked far away, remembering how worried she had been.

She had gotten Percy to take Luke, Nico, Will, Piper, and Jason to safety but Luke's screams as she ran back into the chaos would be in her mind forever.

Knowing that she might not get to see him again was the hardest part of her job, but she knew that she had things to offer the world, people to save, and fights to win.

Her life was insignificant compared to the people she could save but she would never stop fighting to make it home to Luke and Percy.

"You don't know what true sadness is until you run back into a fight after you've passed your son to your husband, telling them to get as far away as possible from the attack, only to hear his screaming as they ran away," Tony finally looked at Natasha, terrified to find a single tear streaming down her face.


	16. Chapter 15

Tony was PISSED, to say the least. He had been trying for the better part of two years to meet Percy Jackson, he had even considered just taking his private jet straight to his house, but he didn't know where the man lived.

To find out that someone who he had 'known' for almost that entire time was actually MARRIED to Jackson, that just made his reconsider his life.

"How was she able to hide this? We work with her all the time," Tony ranted to Bruce who was working on something in the lab, obviously not paying any attention to Tony.

"I mean, I know that she wanted to protect her family and all of that but she could have made up some other story!" Tony was almost yelling at this point, and Bruce just rolled his eyes.

"Tony, it's great when you talk about your feelings, but please do it at a more convenient time," Bruce continued working, ignoring Tony's offended look.

"You guys playing nice?" asked Steve as he strolled into the lab, obviously having just come back from a run.

"Yes, grandpa, we're both doing just fine," Tony said, getting up from his seat and grabbing something from the table.

"You have a strange sense of humor," Bruce said absentmindedly, still working on something.

Tony just shrugged and turned to face Steve who was leaning against a table, obviously not super interested in what was going on around him.

"Why are you doing here, Capsicle?" Tony finally asked after a few seconds of silence, Steve sighed and rubbed his face.

"I wanted to talk to you guys about something, it's about Nat-Annabeth," the name sounded foreign coming out of Steve's mouth, none of them were used to it and Tony wasn't sure if they would ever be.

"Should we be trusting her? I know that she did everything to protect her family but at the same time, I thought that she had actually started to trust us, I thought she was my friend," Steve sounded tired, Tony had no other way to describe it.

"I get where you're coming from but Nata-Annabeth," Bruce corrected himself, "Has a right to her own privacy, you didn't see her when I pretended to get mad at her, the only time I've ever seen her truly scared," Bruce looked up from the thing he was working on.

"When you think back on everything, it makes sense. The first time I ever met her, I pretended to get angry just to see how she would react, she pulled a gun immediately of course, but her eyes were terrified, now we know that she just wanted to get home to her family," Bruce got up, heading towards the sink to get himself a glass of water.

"Well, it's nice to know someone's on my side," Annabeth came entered the room, no technology on her face.

"Why don't you have the stuff on?" Tony asked, gesturing towards her face in general, Annabeth rolled her eyes.

"I'm not planning on seeing anyone else today and it's in my pocket for emergencies, I thought that it might be easier for me to talk to you guys like this, where's Clint?" Annabeth asked, Tony just shrugged.

"JARVIS, tell Clint to meet us here," Bruce said

"I would, Dr. Banner, but Mr. Barton had forgotten to wear his hearing aids, making any announcement of mine rather useless, he is in the communal kitchen if that is of any assistance," JARVIS answered back in his calm voice.

"Alright, let's go up, I've got something to tell ALL of you, even Clint doesn't know about this yet and it's kind of important," Annabeth said, turning on her heel and walking towards the elevator before quickly changing her mind and walking up the stairs.

"Why doesn't she take the elevator? She never has in the time I've known her," Tony sounded concerned more than exasperated, surprising Bruce.

"Dunno, maybe she's claustrophobic?" he suggested, though the three of them had a feeling that that wasn't the case.

Once they had all gathered into the kitchen where Clint was eating toast and seemed ready to continue ignoring them until Annabeth shoved his hearing aids into his face, they faced Annabeth.

"About a week ago, Tony found out that I'm married to Percy Jackson and that was also the day when my friend, Will Solace, came over here and fixed my nose when Steve punched me," Annabeth sent a playful glare towards Steve before she took in a deep breath.

"When Will came over, he didn't just fix my nose, he gave me some unexpected news that you guys should probably know about," Tony lowered his sunglasses on his nose and gave her a 'get to the point' look.

"I'm pregnant,"

"Nico owes me $50!" Clint screamed, punching his fist in the air.

Annabeth glared at him, "Did you bet on whether or not I would get pregnant?" she asked, Clint smirked,

"Nope, I said you would get pregnant before your kid turns five, he said you would get pregnant after he turns five, but that doesn't matter, I get $50," Clint was smirking at the clearly annoyed Annabeth.

She turned back to face the other members of the small group, "Because I'm pregnant, I won't be able to do all of the things I used to, for example: No one can hit me in the stomach while sparring or at any other time. That might seem obvious but no one else knows you guys like I do," Tony made an offended noise while Steve just nodded in agreement.

"I honestly can't blame you for that," Bruce said, giving Annabeth a small smile which she returned.

"Anyway, not much will change until later in the pregnancy, we'll just have to wait and see how it goes," Annabeth said, rubbing her forehead.

"Are you sure you want to keep coming to work? My Ma was a nurse and she always said that the pregnant women stayed at home if they could," Steve said, his eyes showing obvious care for Annabeth, no matter how betrayed he felt by her actions.

Annabeth simply shook her head, "No, I've gone through this before and it's nothing new, but that wasn't the only thing I needed to talk to you all about," Annabeth's tone was a lot more serious, her voice low.

"How much do you know about Greek mythology?"


	17. Chapter 16

"Greek mythology?" Steve sounded confused, Annabeth couldn't blame him.

"I talked with Tony about this before but I don't think he took me seriously. Even if he did, it's obvious that he didn't tell you guys," Annabeth looked at Tony for confirmation.

Tony rolled his eyes.

"Anyway, how much do you know about the Greek gods? Clint, you can go, you already know this," Annabeth made a 'shoo' motion with her hand.

Clint grinned and jumped into the air vent above them.

"Why does he know this already? Are you going to say the same thing you told me before? Was that actually true?" Tony asked all at the same time.

Annabeth glared at him and chose to ignore his questions.

"Anyway, how much DO you know about Greek mythology, it's pretty important," Annabeth scanned their faces, seeing that everyone seemed to have some understanding at least.

"So, the Greek gods are real and I am a daughter of Athena," everyone in the room looked shocked (except Tony, he just seemed confused because he thought that she had been joking).

"Alright, I'm telling you about this because something happened the day you discovered who I am, something that hasn't happened in years and I'm not sure what to make of it," Annabeth rubbed her forehead and sighed.

"Do you need to sit down?" Steve asked, looking like he might get up from his spot leaning on the kitchen counter to help her, Annabeth just smiled.

"No, Steve, I'm fine. Just because I'm pregnant doesn't mean I'm made of glass, I can still kick your butt," Steve just rolled his eyes and motioned for her to continue.

"Anyway, I said that Athena is my mother. Athena is the goddess of wisdom and battle strategy, and she hasn't contacted me in years, until a few days ago,

"About four years ago, monsters wiped out most of the demigod - what that children of the gods call themselves - population. Percy and I were two of the six, or a guess seven, that survived,"

Bruce gives her a look, "Percy? As in Percy Jackson?" Annabeth nods,

"Percy is a son of Poseidon, god of the sea, and is the most powerful demigod to ever exist," Annabeth said as though talking about the weather.

Annabeth spent the next twenty minutes explaining her life to the Avengers, leaving out key details about certain people (Luke, mainly).

"Any questions?" Annabeth asked the room at large, obviously tired from all the talking she'd just done.

"No," Steve sent a warning look to the rest of the group, "We're all good here, do you need water or something?"

Annabeth leaned back on the counter and groaned, "Gods, you're even worse than Percy, and he almost tracked you down when you heard that you punched me, I'm fine,"

"Oh my gosh! I punched a pregnant woman," Steve ran his finger through his hair.

"Steve," Annabeth said, her voice commanding, forcing Steve to look at her, "I've literally gone through hell and made it out alive, I fought monsters you've never even seen in your worst nightmares, you punching my nose is nothing," Steve still looked guilty but decided not to push it.

Even if he didn't know Annabeth very well, he knew Natasha and a pissed off Natasha was not a good thing.

"So, one of your friends who was 'dead' suddenly came back less than a month before you heard from your mother for the first time in years?" Bruce asked.

Annabeth nodded and sighed saw that Steve was about to ask if she was ok again, she just glared at him.

He backed down with a sheepish look.

"Are you sure that Percy shouldn't help us? He is 'the most powerful demigod' according to you and, now that I think about it, Thor," Tony said.

"No, Percy's working today and he doesn't need any more stress, I'm not calling him here just so that you can fangirl over him," an idea hit Annabeth and she grinned, "We can, however, call one of my other friends, a certain daughter of Aphrodite,"

Thirty minutes later, Piper burst into the room wearing a sweatshirt and sweatpants, obnoxiously eating a donut.

"This is a daughter of Aphrodite?" Bruce whispered to Steve who just shrugged.

"Annabeth, this better be good, I had to leave Frank in the middle of our pop culture catch up session," Piper completely ignored the rest of the Avengers (including a grinning Clint) and walked straight up to Annabeth.

Annabeth raised her eyebrow, "What were you watching today?"

"Yuri! On Ice," Piper sang, popping the rest of the donut into her mouth, "Frank missed a bunch of gay shows and if he is to be friends with us, he must be educated on the homosexuals. As the daughter of the goddess of love, I thought that it should bt my duty," Piper was smirking now.

"Fair enough," Annabeth gave Piper a hug before turning to the rest of the Avengers (sans Thor who was busy on Asgard).

"Everyone, meet Piper, daughter of Aphrodite and one of my best friends," everyone in the group made sounds of greeting (except Tony who just raised an eyebrow).

"You're telling me that this girl is a daughter of the goddess of love and beauty?" Tony sounded skeptical, then he met Piper's eyes.

"Ok, metalhead, don't believe me?" Piper smirked, "fetch me a drink,"

Tony suddenly felt overrun with the urge to fix Piper a glass of water, he even walked towards the nearest sink and grabbed a glass before he came to his senses.

"What the fuck," he mumbled, giving Piper a terrified glance.

"Piper can make people do whatever she wants, it's a trait that only certain children of Aphrodite have and she's used it many times over the years, a good thing to have in a pinch," Annabeth said, Piper just rolled her eyes,

"Yeah, sometimes literally a pinch," she mumbled.

"Alright, let's start brainstorming," Bruce said, grabbing a notebook.


	18. Chapter 17

"Ok, so two monsters - that you've never been able to identify - killed everyone in your camps a few years ago. Also, one of your friends who 'died' in this attack just came back after being a cat for years?" Bruce was rubbing his forehead.

"Yup, that's the short version," Piper said, grabbing the coffee out of Tony's hand and taking a sip.

"Hey, beauty queen, that's mine," Tony said, he was about to grab the coffee back from her before Piper dropped it, the mug shattering.

"Leo," Piper whispered, her eyes far away, Annabeth immediately wrapped her arms around her friend.

"It's ok, he's in Elysium, he was so brave," Piper let out a broken sob and clung to Annabeth tightly.

"Did I do something?" Tony asked, confused at this sudden change in behavior,

"My best friend, Leo, always called me 'beauty queen', I just miss him," Piper wiped at her eyes, obviously a little shaken.

Tony stood still, "I'm sorry," he said, his voice void of any sarcasm, "I didn't know," Annabeth smiled at him.

"It's ok, Tony, we all have issues, you didn't mean any harm," Piper nodded at Annabeth's words, obviously not angry at him.

"Ok," Clint said after a moment of silence, "I don't want to get your hopes up, but based on what has been happening lately and everything you friend told you, there is a chance that your friends aren't dead,"

Annabeth whipped her head around to look at Clint, eyes icy and calculating, "What do you mean?"

Clint looked scared of Annabeth but kept talking, "Well, your friend said that he never actually saw anyone die, right? Just a lot of screaming, there could be a chance that your friends aren't dead,"

Annabeth sat down on a chair, shock on her face.

"Again, I don't want to get your hopes up, it's only a possibility," Clint said, looking like he regretted saying anything.

"We need the boys," Piper said,

"No, who will look after Luke,"

"They deserve the right to know, even if they can't help us," Piper tried her hardest to not use her charm speak, she wanted Annabeth's true opinion on this.

Annabeth sat silently, obviously deep in thought.

"Ok," she whispered, Piper's head turned around so fast she must have hurt her neck,

"Ok? Ok as in we can call them?" Piper asked, sounding like she was walking on eggshells.

"Yes, call them all, even Frank," Piper whipped out her phone and started dialing numbers, talking fast.

"Jason? Yeah, we need you to come to Annabeth's work, I don't care if you're in the middle of teaching, tell them you're sick or something- LEO MIGHT BE ALIVE!" Piper yelled, breathing heavily.

"Ok, pick up the rest, don't forget Frank, and-" Piper looked at Annabeth, breathing deep, "bring Luke-"

"No!" Annabeth yelled, reaching for the phone,

"Annabeth, listen to me, we can protect him, you're friends with a billionaire for Hades sake, if he's going to attract monsters without you and Percy to protect him," Annabeth sighed and thought it over.

"I can fly out the best babysitter in the world, is that what you need? It looks like that's what you need, JARVIS, find the best babysitter money can buy," Tony said, grabbing a mug and filling it with coffee after Piper had broken his.

"Fine," Annabeth sounded tired and stressed, "they can pick up Luke, but he stays in the tower at all times,"

Piper nodded and repeated what Annabeth had said into the phone to Jason.

"They'll be here in half an hour," Piper said, giving Annabeth a soft smile.

There was silence before Annabeth spoke, "I'm going to have to explain to my son that I risk my life for a living," Annabeth sounded almost hysterical, clutching to her sides.

Piper dropped in front of Annabeth's chair, grabbing her friend's hands.

"Annabeth, listen to me, you are the best mother I've ever met, you didn't have a present mother and yet you still managed to raise that angel of a boy, unless he doesn't get his chocolate, then he's a little hellhound," Piper said, making Annabeth giggle.

"Sir, would you still like me to fly out that babysitter?" came JARVIS's voice, neutral as always.

"Yes, thanks, J," Tony didn't take his eyes off of Annabeth and Piper who were both talking to each other in quiet voices.

"What's Luke like?" Steve asked,

Annabeth's face broke out in an easy smile, "He's four years old, and he has all of my brains and all of his father's sass," Piper snorted,

"That's an understatement, once I asked for his opinion of my outfit as a joke and he said 'Aunt Piper, I don't know who told you that orange was your color, but they aren't your friend,' How is a four-year-old able to articulate that!"

The room broke out into laughter, the mood lightening slightly.

Annabeth and Piper spent the next twenty-five minutes telling funny stories about their lives until the elevator bell rang, causing all conversation to stop instantly.


	19. Chapter 18

"Mommy!" came a little voice from the elevator as soon as it opened.

Luke Charles Jackson ran out of his father's arms and straight to his mother, oblivious to the other people in the room.

"My little clownfish," Annabeth cooed, wrapping her arms around the boy and picking him up to rest on her hip.

"Momma, guess what, guess!" Luke was almost jumping out of her arms with excitement, his face bright and full of joy.

"What happened, Nemo," Annabeth asked,

"Jake kissed me on the cheek and now we're married like you and Daddy," Annabeth made eye contact with Percy who was just laughing to himself.

"That sounds amazing, Luke, did you have a wedding?" Piper asked, also trying not to laugh at the toddler's face.

"Yeah, it was under the slide at recess," Luke was giggling and bouncing in Annabeth's arms before he seemed to realize that there were multiple strangers in the room.

The Avengers found themselves under Luke's curious gaze, almost like he was able to see right through them.

"Captain America," Luke whispered, his face full of shock, eyes dawning in recognition.

"He there, buddy, your mom's told me a lot about you," Steve immediately switched to 'Cap mode' as Annabeth called it.

"Rogers, if you put up your fake persona around my kid and my friends, I won't be able to look at you with a straight face," Annabeth sounded monotone but her eyes danced with amusement.

Steve sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck.

"Ok, Piper's been teaching me things, but I honestly have no idea who you guys really are," Frank said, looking nervous.

"It's ok, Frank, you've been a cat for like three years, it's obvious that you'll miss out on things," Jason said, smiling kindly while adjusting his glasses.

"Yeah, but I was hoping for introductions?" Frank said timidly, causing Percy to laugh.

"No problem, Beast Boy. This is Tony Stark, also known as Iron Man, he flies around in a metal suit and he's also a genius," Percy said,

"Percy Jackson just called me a genius," Tony whispered, grabbing Bruce's shoulder.

"There's Clint Barton, also known as Hawkeye, you guys should tale archery together," Percy gave Clint a pat on the back.

"Here's Steve Rogers, also known as Captain America, they found him in the ice a few months ago, we saw each other at Sea World but I don't think I've formally met you," Percy shook Steve's hand.

"I can see why Annabeth keeps you around, you look like one of the Asgardians" Steve joked, gesturing towards Percy's body.

Percy had obviously just come from a workout, not wearing his usual button-up shirt and jeans but instead an extremely tight undershirt and some gym pants.

Percy laughed, a slight blush spreading over his cheeks and making his freckles stand out.

"Aww, does Stevie have a crush?" Tony jested.

For some reason, Steve's whole demeanor changed, his shoulders tensed and he developed a tick in his jaw.

"Don't call me that," Tony took one look at Steve before backing down, raising his hands in a placating gesture.

"Sorry, Cap, won't happen again,"

Despite how he acted, Tony actually did care about his team and he didn't want to hurt them with his comments.

"Ok, this is Dr. Bruce Banner, amazing scientist and expert in Gama radiation," Percy turned his grin to Banner, "Dr, Banner, I think you'll be a little shocked at what we can do, but Frank especially," Bruce raised his eyebrow, almost in a challenging manner.

"I doubt much can surprise me much anymore, Mr. Jackson, after all, I do turn into a raging green monster when I get angry," Bruce said, Percy just smirked.

"$10 you're wrong, also, don't call me Mr. Jackson, that makes me feel old, I'm only twenty-six for Hades sake-"

"Don't use my father's name like that," Nico interrupted, giving Percy his death glare which Percy had been building up an immunity to for the past few years.

"Your death glares don't work on me, Death Breath, I'm like your big brother!" Nico rolled his eyes and started cleaning under his fingernails with a stigiant iron dagger.

"How did you get that into the tower?" Tony asked,

"I have my ways, Stark," Will rolled his eyes and his fiance's antics and motioned for Percy to continue.

"Thor isn't here right now but-" a sudden noise like a bass drum shook the floor.

"What was that!" Piper yelled, holding the kitchen counter, Annabeth just shook her head.

"That was the last thing your friends ever heard," came a voice that was icy cold, making almost everyone shiver as another noise made the floor shake again.

"I know that voice," Frank whispered, his face paperwhite and beginning to sweat.

"From where?" Jason asked,

"I- I don't know. All I know is that they called themselves-"

"Spit it out, little kitty, say it," jeered the voice, it seemed to come from everywhere at once yet it didn't have a source.

Frank gulped and shook as another blow make the ground quiver.

"HYDRA,"


	20. Chapter 19

The voice started laughing cruel and high pitched while the whole tower shook.

"Tony, your suit!" Annabeth yelled, holding Luke tightly as she tried to keep upright.

"Right!" Tony pressed a button and a metal glove flew out of nowhere, attaching itself to Tony's hand.

"Get Luke out of here!" Annabeth yelled, passing the child to Percy who looked torn, "Don't argue, just go! There's a river on the right side of the building," Annabeth grabbed a dagger from the inside of her boot.

Percy's face turned emotionless and he ran to the window, holding a screaming Luke.

"What is that thing?" Nico asked, pointing at something.

Annabeth looked around and saw a man who stood almost eight feet tall, his skin a cold pale blue and his hair dark as night.

"Who are you?" Will yelled over the shaking of the building.

The man laughed, his voice again not coming from him, but from everywhere at once.

"Of course you do not know me, my daughter didn't mention me once?" The man's eyes looked like a bright blue fire.

Annabeth looked over at the window to see it broken, Percy had obviously jumped out with Luke into the river.

At least they're safe.

"Why did you tell Percy to run, can't he help us?" Steve asked,

"I will never put my family in danger again if I can help it," Annabeth glared at Steve who just sighed.

"I am Perses, Titan god of destruction," Perses was grinning, his teeth blindingly white in the artificial light of the kitchen.

"Who's your daughter you mentioned?" Jason said, his stance tense, wind moving around him.

Perses simply laughed, "My only child, I heard she helped you in your fight against the giants. Her name is Hecate,"

"Annabeth, what the fuck is going on?" Tony asked, reminding the demigods of their presence.

"I honestly don't know, Tony, but be ready to kick some ass," Annabeth turned to Bruce, "you might want to get out of here, I not sure a code green would be a good thing at the moment," Bruce still looked shocked from the titan in their kitchen but nodded and ran off, probably towards the stairs.

"Hey, Mr. Destruction, could you not level my tower?" Tony yelled at the titan, his full suit now on his body.

Perses was grinning even wider, "Of course, Tony Stark. After all, you're not who I came to fight today," his gaze turned towards Frank who was white as a piece of paper, his chest rising and falling rapidly.

The building stopped shaking but Annabeth didn't dare lower her guard,

"The little kitty escaped, and he must join his friends," Perses lunged at Frank but Jason sent a gust of wind at him, knocking him off his feet.

"You don't want to fight us," Piper said, her voice full of charm speak, "You want to tell us exactly why you're here and who sent you,"

Perses stopped for a moment before shaking his head, running at Frank again but this time with a sword that seemed to have appeared out of thin air.

"Holy SHIT!" Clint yelled, grabbing his bow and arrows from the air vents above them.

Nico put his hands on the floor while closing his eyes and muttering.

"Hurry up, Sunshine!" Will yelled, summoning some light to blind Perses, making the titan yell in annoyance more than pain.

"I'm trying, Tesoro!" Nico scrunched up his face, digging his fingers into the ground, "It's just hard for them to climb up over fifty floors!"

Just as the light disappeared from Perses's face, a skeleton in a bright red British uniform clawed it's way up from the ground, followed by many more skeletons in both British and American revolutionary uniforms (some with still rotting pieces of flesh stuck to their bones).

"What the fuck is happening?" Steve yelled, throwing his shield at Perses who caught it and flung it back at the super-soldier with even more force.

"Nico is a son of Hades, Greek god of the underworld, he can summon the dead to do his bidding," Jason yelled over the sound of Tony firing at Perses.

"Yeah, that makes sense," Steve said, grabbing the dagger Annabeth offered him.

"Wow, Cap, you can use things other than your shield?" Clint asked, firing arrows at the titan who was now is a sword fight with Jason.

"Fuck you, Barton," Steve said running up to Perses and attempting to plunge the dagger into his shoulder.

"Did you give him an imperial gold dagger?" Will asked, pulling his bracelet off so that it turned into his bow and arrow.

"Yeah, I've always preferred celestial bronze," Annabeth ran towards Will, grabbed a few arrows from his quiver, and passed them to Clint.

"These are made out of celestial bronze, one of the only metals that will actually harm him," Annabeth quickly explained, not bothering to say anymore.

"Why don't I get a new weapon?" Tony asked, shooting another blast of energy at Perses who stumbled back.

Piper rolled her eyes, grabber her own dagger, "You don't need one, metalhead, you've got your energy blasts and they work just fine,"

"I'm also the only one who can really wield stigiant iron," Nico said, trying to find an opening for him to stab Perses.

Annabeth rolled her eyes, "You like it for the aesthetic and the aesthetic alone, Nico,",

She could tell that he was about to reply with a sarcastic comment but at that moment, Piper spoke.

"You want to tell us why you're here and why you want Frank!"

Perses froze, his eyes looked like they weren't focused on anything as he responded.

"I need the son of Mars because he is the only person strong enough to subdue the зимний солдат,"

And with that, he disappeared.


	21. Chapter 20

Twenty minutes later, the Avengers, as well as their new demigod teammates, sat in the wrecked kitchen of Avengers tower.

"Ok, let's brainstorm, what's so special about Frank?" Bruce asked, sitting on top of the island in the wreckage of the kitchen.

"Um, I can shape-shift?" Frank said, making the eyes of all the Avengers snap towards him.

"I'm sorry, you can what now?" Tony sounded disbelieving as Annabeth rolled her eyes.

"You think you're up for a demonstration? I would understand if you're not," Steve said,

This made Piper laugh, much to the confusion of everyone else in the room,

"I'm sorry," Piper said between laughs, "do you honestly believe that this," Piper gestured to the room, "is something we haven't done countless times before?"

This made all of the other demigods join Piper in her laughter (including Percy who had used the water from the river to carry himself back up after the fight was done).

Steve raised an eyebrow, "I know that you might be in shock, but this isn't something civilians go through a lot-"

"We're not regular civilians, Spangles, and this isn't our first rodeo," Percy said, making Jason give him a fist-bump.

"Ok, I was just checking," Steve mumbled, blushing slightly in embarrassment.

"Hey, Frank, want to give them the Chinese handcuffs demonstration?" Nico asked, making Frak laugh and blush.

The Avengers looked in shock as where Frank once stood, there was now an iguana.

"Holy shit," Clint mumbled, looking at the iguana then to Annabeth then back to the iguana.

"Can he just turn into iguanas, or can he, like, turn into everything?" Bruce asked, sounding fascinated.

The iguana turned back into Frank who was smiling slightly.

"I can turn into basically any animal, including mythical ones, like dragons,"

"Not very mythical," Will muttered, making Nico snort.

"Well, I've got to ask, you are going to help us, right? You're not working with that guy?"

Tony regretted the words as soon as they left his mouth, seeing the pure anger on the faces of all the demigods except Frank, who just looked sad.

"I know that you have no reason to trust me, but that guy-, he knows what happened to Hazel and Reyna, two of the most important people in my life," Frank took a deep breath, "I'd do anything to get them back, or to at least get some closure,"

"Stark, if you don't trust one of us, you don't trust all of us," Nico said. The other demigods in the room nod in agreement.

"Ok, my bad, just checking," Tony raised his hands in a placating gesture.

"Annabeth, what do you know about that guy?" Bruce asked, scribbling unintelligible notes in a notebook.

Annabeth thought for a moment, "That was Perses, Titan of destruction-"

"So that's why we have similar names," Percy muttered, making Nico snort,

Annabeth rolled her eyes and continued, "He's the father of Hecate, as he mentioned, and his name is connected with the word _persô_, which means to 'to lay waste' or 'sack in war',"

"Seems like a nice guy," Steve said. Tony rolled his eyes,

"Yeah, super nice guy, Capsicle, Titans of destruction tend to make great friends," Tony said.

"Anyway, we need to figure out what he meant by 'зимний солдат', does anyone speak that language?" Bruce asked,

"It means Winter Soldier in Russian," Annabeth said, making everyone stare at her, "I went undercover un Russia once, I had to learn the language-"

"Hi, I'm Annabeth Chase and I learn whole new languages just because I have to go undercover," Piper muttered.

Annabeth blushed and everyone else laughed.

"So, what does 'Winter Soldier' mean, exactly?" Will asked,

Frank, who had remained quiet since his little speech, spoke up, "The Winter Soldier is a HYDRA asset-"

"Hold up, Hydra? Is in a monster with multiple heads, Hydra? I didn't think they could have assets," Percy said,

"No, HYDRA is a Nazi science division, I thought I took them down when I killed Red Skull, but I guess not," Steve sounded hopeless,

'_Wouldn't you sound hopeless too if the thing that you died to take down still existed after all of your efforts?_' said a little voice in Annabeth's head, making her wince and give Steve a sympathetic look.

"Wait, how do you know this, beast boy?" Tony asked (Percy had it stifle his laughter at the nickname)

"I-I'm not sure, I remember a cell, and a chair? Yeah, there was definitely a chair, and a guy with a metal arm- they called him 'The Asset' or 'The Winter Soldier', but I can't remember much," Frank looked paler with each word, making Annabeth more and more concerned over her friend.

"So… you weren't just a cat for three years? You were kidnapped?" Nico asked, making Frank wince.

"I-I don't know, but that guy looked familiar, and I remember his name, Perses, being said a few times,"

"And why did you fail to mention this before?" Steve asked, putting on his 'Captain America' voice that Annabeth knew too well.

"Lay off him Steve-"

"No, Annabeth. I fought to take down HYDRA and I died for it, I want to know why your friend here simply 'forgot' to mention this detail to us," Steve sounded mad, making Annabeth wince.

A pissed off Steve wasn't a good thing.

"The chair wasn't a regular chair," Frank mumbled, causing the room to quiet down and look at him, "It was- it had this helmet attached to it, they would put it on you and it hurt like Hades," Frank tried to laugh but it sounded more like a sob.

"I- I think they used it to brainwash us, cause The Asset never remembered me after he was in the chair, or it took a long time to get his memories back," Frank ran his hand through his hair, which was longer than Annabeth had ever seen it.

His hair brushed his ears slightly and Annabeth noticed for the first time how _wrong_ Frank looked.

"You were friends with this guy, right?" Annabeth asked, forcing Frank to look at her, Frank shrugged.

"If he remembers you, he won't fight us. It seems like HYDRA didn't treat him well, so maybe he'll be a little more hesitant to fight for them once he sees a friendly face,"

Frank shook his head, "I'm not sure, Annabeth, their memory wiping thing worked really well, It took me at least a month to remember you guys after it happened, and he got wiped almost every week. That's hard to recover from," Frank's voice shook as he spoke.

"Did he have a name other than 'The Asset' or 'The Winter Soldier'? If he has a human name, we can use that to 'awaken his mind'," Tony suggested, but Frank just shook his head.

"I think he had a life before he became 'The Asset', but he only remembered it for short periods of time, like once he told me about a guy he loved, not sure if it was romantic or platonic, but whenever he got a memory back, it was always about some guy,"

"That's useful, if we can find the guy then we can use his to awaken the Winter Soldier's memories," Steve said.

Percy decided to put Luke to bed (the toddler had been asleep for the whole thing) so that they could continue the conversation.

As they all left the talked into the night, a single thought remained at the forefront of Annabeth's mind, like a mantra she kept repeating.

HYDRA, here we come.


	22. Chapter 21

Annabeth knew that this was coming, but it didn't make it any less difficult.

"Luke, you have to stay here with Ms. Pepper, alright," she said, running her fingers through Luke's soft black hair. The child just gave her a tearful glance, hugging his Nemo plushie tighter and whimpering.

"Why are you going away, Mommy?" He asked snuggling closer to Annabeth's side and making her heart shatter with his baby seal eyes.

She sighed and kissed his cheek, "Some bad people hurt Mommy's friends, so now I need to stop them. Mommy is going to be a hero, like Nemo's mommy, but I'll come back to you, my little clownfish,"

Annabeth would be lying if she didn't feel tears welling up in her eyes.

Luke let go of his pillow before throwing his arms around Annabeth's neck, burying his face in her shoulder.

"You'll be back, Mommy," he said through a few tears, the exhaustion of the day catching up with him.

"Of course, I'll always come back to you, my little clownfish," she whispered, rubbing his back and feeling his shoulders relax beneath her hands.

Ten minutes later, Luke was sleeping peacefully, and Annabeth ripped herself from that perfect world with her child to join reality again.

The other Avengers were sitting in the lounge area, not caring about the fact that there was a completely demolished kitchen just a few feet away from them.

"Thank you so much for agreeing to do this," Annabeth said, catching sight of Pepper Potts who was sitting next to Tony.

Pepper put down her wine glass and stood up, wrapping Annabeth in an unexpected hug.

"It's no problem, I'm just sorry you have to leave at all," she said, pulling back to face Annabeth properly.

"It really does make us feel better knowing that you'll be here and that we're not entrusting our son to a complete stranger," Percy said, walking up behind them.

"Yes, I suppose this is better than nothing," Pepper said with a smile, "I do have a lot of CEO duties, so Happy will have to look after Luke when I'm not able to. But don't worry, Tony has been trusting Happy to look after him for years, so a four-year-old shouldn't be that different-"

"Hey!" Tony sounded mildly offended, glaring at Pepper who just laughed.

"Yes, I suppose they are quite similar," Annabeth mused, making everyone laugh.

"Alright, where do we think the HYDRA base is?" Will asked, leaning forward to look at the scattered papers on the coffee table. The team had been gathering anything and everything they could about HYDRA, including all of their experiments from the World War Two days.

Annabeth had to admit, they were pretty gruesome.

"Looks like they mostly operated out of different places in Europe, it seems as though they migrated to the Soviet Union after the war, which would explain why it looked like they had disappeared," Bruce theorized.

"I thought the Russians were our allies," Steve said, looking confused,

"They were, during the war at least, but there was this winter war or something, I can't remember, and Russian and the USA have had a rocky relationship since," Nico tried to explain, making Jason laugh at him.

"It's called the cold war, it didn't have anything to do with winter, it just meant that nobody was actually doing anything. The US threatened Russia with bombs, but then Russian threatened the US with bombs, so neither really wanted to strike first," Jason summarized quickly,

"The world really has done some stupid things while I was in the casino," Nico mumbled,

"Tell me about it, I came out of the ice and people expected me to be some racist, sexist, true catholic boy," Steve snorted, "Couldn't be farther from the truth," he mumbled.

"Ok, so they relocated to the Soviet Union after the war, but that doesn't explain why they attacked the demigod camps, how did they even know about demigods in the first place?" Piper sounded frustrated, taking a long sip from her coffee mug.

Tony and Bruce exchanged a look before Tony spoke, "We don't want this to sound rude, but are there any demigods who would give out information for, I don't know, money? Other information? A job?"

The demigods considered this for a moment, "Maybe. We had a war with Kronos a while back, a lot of demigods joined his side and we had to fight our own brothers and sisters. I know that at least a few of them decided to live on their own instead of joining camp again," Will offered his theory, meeting Percy's eyes.

"It's possible, but that was mostly Greek demigods, and it's very well known that Greek demigods don't live to see their 20th birthday in most cases," Percy ran his fingers through his messy black hair that he had never learned to tame, something Annabeth loved about his appearance.

"Still, I don't think that any demigods would offer up that kind of information to a 'government' organization, they wanted to control with Kronos, this would have the exact opposite effect," Annabeth said.

The other demigods nodded in agreement.

"Not to mention, if they were a Greek demigod, they wouldn't have known about the Roman camp and visa versa," Nico spoke up.

"Ok, so, rouge demigod: possible theory, but unlikely. Any more ideas?" Clint asked, leaning back against the couch.

"Maybe they just figured it out," Steve said, drawing stares from around the room, "I mean, HYDRA is terrible, but they're not dumb, at least, not intelligence wise. Morally? That's another question-"

"Get to the point, stars 'n strips," Nico cut him off, glaring at the man.

"I mean, you say that there are certain people who can see through the- what's it called?"

"The Mist," Piper said, helpfully,

"Yeah, the Mist. If they could see through it, and they worked for HYDRA, they would have reported their sights to HYDRA which would have been able to put two and two together," Steve finished, earning some nods of speculation around the room.

"Ok, that is a much more plausible theory, but how could they have found the demigod camps?" Bruce asked, writing down illegible things in his notebook.

"If HYDRA did put the pieces together, they must have collected everyone they could find who could see through the Mist, they probably sent them out to scout for anything Greek or Roman mythology related. The Greek camp was hidden purely by the Mist, while the Roman one had less obvious signs,"

Annabeth ran her fingers through her hair, pacing the floor.

"So how does that help us? We still don't know where they are or how big their forces are-"

"I do," a voice said behind them making the group turn to find exactly the person they needed at this very moment.

Rachel Elizabeth Dare.


	23. Chapter 22

"Rachel!" Nico smiled at the redhead, getting up from his seat to give her a quick hug.

Tony raised an eyebrow, "How did you get up here? This tower is one of the most secure places in the world-"

"I just told them I was doing a piece for the Avengers, I'm an artist and, since you did commission me to make some art a few weeks ago, I just showed them the massages," Rachel smirked at Tony's confused face.

"I did what?"

"I'm R.E.D, or at least that's the name I show my art under, you asked me to do some work for the Avengers," Rachel grinned as Tony's face dawned in recognition.

"Ok, but that doesn't explain why you're here," Steve said, putting on his Captain Ameria voice.

"I'm not a demigod, but I am familiar with the demigod world. I'm an oracle. Speaking of which, I've been having so many dreams lately, it's unreal," Rachel said, facing Nico again.

Nico and Rachel had a strange friendship, something that consisted of sarcastic humor and 3 am Walmart runs while talking about the meaning of the universe.

"I messaged her to come here as soon as I heard what had been happening, never a bad idea to have someone who can see the future," Nico reasoned, sitting back down. Rachel rolled her eyes and set down her bag, "It's not that simple, plus, I haven't gone green since the attacks!"

Bruce spit out his water which he had been sipping, staring at Rachel with terror, "Gone green? Like, my green?" Rachel looked at him for a moment then made the connection, shaking her head.

"No, not like that. Whenever I get taken over by the spirit of Delphi, green smoke comes out of my mouth and my eyes turn green, it's kind of creepy from what I've heard," Rachel mused, sitting next to Piper.

Percy snorted, "Creepy is an understatement, though it's better than the previous Oracle," that got nods from every demigod who had had the misfortune of meeting Rachel predecessor.

"Who was the previous oracle?" Clint asked, sitting on the floor and leaning against Annabeth's legs.

Shivers ran through the spines of everyone who had ever been to the Big House attic, "It was literally an animated corpse," Will said.

Noises of surprise and disgust ran through the Avengers at the statement, Steve looking like he was about to throw up.

"An animated CORPSE?" Tony asked,

"Yup, the demigod world is strange, to say the least," Percy said, uninterestedly.

Rachel sighed, plopping down on the couch next to Nico, "Ok, so, the dreams," she started, stealing Nico's hot chocolate and ignoring his noises of protests, "It usually starts with the reflecting pool in DC, the Washington Monument-"

"Does that mean we need to go to DC?" Steve interrupted, earning a glare from Rachel.

"Listen, Spangles, I'm Apollo's chosen oracle and I can - and will - predict your death one day, so let me do my thing," Steve shut his mouth, looking terrified.

"Anyway," Rachel continued, "There's always the same dude running around the reflecting pool. I can never see his face, but he has a metal arm with a red star on his shoulder-" Frank sucked in a breath "-and he just gives off an 'I will murder your family' vibe, you know?"

"That's the Winter Soldier," Frank said, sitting impossibly still.

"Well, the guy stops running after five laps, always five laps, and then he stands in front of the Washington monument. After that, he says 'zhivoy', which means 'alive' in Russian, I looked it up after the fifth night," Rachel takes a deep breath, kicking her feet up on Nico's lap and ignoring his protests once again.

"Ok, so, five laps. The most obvious thing that could mean is five days- wait, why are prophecies in visual form now?" Piper asked no one in particular.

Will thought for a moment, "Maybe Apollo got cursed to never speak poetry again-"

"Please," Percy said, earning a snort from Annabeth,

"Maybe it has something to do with the fact that the gods haven't contacted us in about five years and they are probably under some ancient law or spell limiting how to communicate with us," Jason suggested, always the practical one.

"Ok, five laps, five days. 'Alive' can only mean a few things," Annabeth ran her fingers through her hair, "It could mean that we need to be brought in alive by him, that all of us need to stay alive… or maybe it's saying that our friends are alive,"

"The Washington monument is pretty self-explanatory, we need to travel to DC, and the fact that the Winter Soldier was running laps around the reflecting pool means that we should be looking for someone - or something - that does that as well," Nico said, trying to get Rachels' feet off him to no avail.

"Is there anything else you can tell us about the dream, Rachel?" Bruce asked, sounding uneasy with all of the guesswork that was involved in their plan.

Rachel thought for a moment before she spoke, "Well, that was only one dream, I've been getting another one as well," everyone leaned forward to listen, "The second one starts with the demigods of Camp Jupiter being attacked by the monster,"

All the demigods winced.

"All of the demigods get cornered in the field of Mars. The monster- It's hard to explain. I would draw it, but I never see it, I can only feel that it's there, and it's powerful,"

"I think we know what it is," Annabeth said, "We got a visit from someone a day ago, a lovely titan of destruction called Perses. During that fight we had with him, he wasn't trying, regular titans can demolish whole cities when they want to, but a titan of destruction? That's a whole different story,"

Rachel nodded, like Annabeth's brief description had matched up to what she had suspected.

"So the demigods are cornered on the field of Mars, but instead of killing them, the monster releases a gas of some sort, and it's the magical kind, nothing you could develop in a lab. He releases it into the crowd, and everyone falls asleep. There are these guys who come soon, and the Winter Soldier is with them, and they load all the demigods into so trucks,"

The whole group remains silent for a while, unable to process what they had just heard.

"Our friends were carted away like animals," Annabeth's voice shakes with rage, the glass in her hand shattering.

"We'll save them-"

"What if they've been mind-wiped?" Frank interrupted Percy, his head hanging low, "I know that they wiped my memories, why not the others too? Us demigods have been training since we were teenagers, in most cases, and I bet HYDRA thought that it would be nice to have a small army of pre-trained soldiers," Frank's voice shakes as he speaks.

What were they going to do?


	24. Chapter 23

"I've set up my private jet to fly us to DC tonight, perks of being a billionaire," Tony said, returning from the other room where he had been on a call.

"That's good," Annabeth muttered, tying her hair back into a ponytail and leaning back on the couch.

"Are you sure you want to fly, Annabeth-"

"I swear, Rogers, if you ask me if I'm ok one more time, I'm about to hit you with a peanut butter sandwich," Annabeth glared playfully at Steve who blushed.

"Nico and Percy should be alright to fly since I'm on the plane too," Jason said, wrapping his arm around Piper who had dozed off about half an hour ago.

They'd had a long day.

"Why wouldn't they be able to fly?" Bruce asked, raising an eyebrow.

Jason shrugged, "Zeus doesn't like his brothers that much, and by extension his children,"

Bruce looked taken aback, "That's terrible!"

"Well, it's not that bad, considering other parts of Greek mythology, like the fact that most of the eldest gods were eaten by their father," Will piped up, running his hand through Nico's hair who was almost asleep on his lap.

Steve eyed Will and Nico, seeming to have not heard what Will said, and looking a little bitter as Will smiled down at Nico.

"You alright, Spangles?" Rachel asked, drinking a fresh cup of coffee to help her stay awake.

Steve sighed, "Yeah, I'm alright, just missing someone," he said, leaning back onto the couch. Annabeth looked over to him, silently wondering who he was talking about.

Steve just met her eyes, shaking his head slightly, silently saying that he didn't want to talk about it.

"So, we need to give you all some weapons that will work on Greek monsters," Percy said, leaning forward like he was discussing battle strategy around the ping pong table at the Big House.

"I can summon some weapons, I have a little bit of the riches aspect of Hades's powers, but Hazel-" Nico but himself off, taking a deep breath.

"That's good, Neeks," Percy said, obviously trying to lighten the mood, and succeeding as Nico glared at him.

"So, Nico can summon weapons for all of you, and us demigods already have our weapons," Annabeth said. Gods, she wanted coffee, but the stupid child in her stomach didn't like the fast juice.

It was a little hard getting used to, being pregnant. She knew that she would be getting morning sickness soon, her morning sickness with Luke was awful, and she had a sinking feeling that this one would be that same.

Of course, she could afford to get any medicine she needed, but it was hard to treat something that wasn't really wrong in the first place.

"Have you been thinking of names?" Clint asked poking her in the arm. Annabeth gave him a teasing glare.

"I was going to name them after some of our friends, but I'm not sure that's the best idea right now. Luke was named after my friend who died in the titan war, he was also the person who hosted Kronos, and was generally a bad person for most of my life, but he ended up being a hero,"

Tony raised an eyebrow, seemingly unaffected by the late hour.

"You named your kid after someone who fought against you?"

"It was more complicated than that," Annabeth rubbed her temples, "Luke had been my best friend since I was seven, and I loved him. The reason he betrayed the gods was because the gods weren't doing a good job. They were terrible parents, hardly ever claimed their kids, and most demigods felt abandoned,"

Steve sat up in his seat, listening closely.

"Luke just wanted to prove himself, he wanted the gods to notice, to even care, and eventually Kronos's words overtook him. In the end, though, he sacrificed himself, and that's why I named my son after him. Not because I loved him, though I did, but because in the end, he made the right choice,"

There was silence in the room, until Bruce spoke up, "That's a lot of thought in a name,"

The tension broke, everyone who was still awake laughing. Percy wrapped an arm around Annabeth's shoulders and kissed her temple, smiling.

"But what do you think we should name this little poppy seed?" Percy asked, poking at Annabeth's stomach.

"Our little poppy seed?"

"Yeah! I've been listening to pregnancy audiobooks, and at four weeks old, the baby is around the size of a Poppyseed," Percy smiled.

Annabeth felt herself grinning, leaning into Percy's touch.

"Our little poppy seed,"


	25. Chapter 24

The flight to DC wasn't that bad, once Annabeth thought about it. She sat on the lavish leather seats of Tony's private jet, Percy next to her, and closed her eyes.

She slept almost the entire way there, only waking up when they were twenty minutes out.

Percy and Nico, on the other hand, were clutching the seats like they were going to be shoved off at any moment. Jason laughed at them for the healthy amount of time you should laugh at friends, then tried to calm them down. Everyone else was deeply amused by this whole display, and it was ultimately a nice way to start their journey.

The people at the airport were way too nice to them, probably because they wanted a nice tip from Tony (It was a private landing area).

Finding their hotel wasn't hard either, considering it was the most lavish hotel in a thirty minutes radius. Tony had gotten them the penthouse, with five rooms and two pull out couches.

"We shouldn't spend much time here, time to visit President Washington," Annabeth sighed, looking tired.

"Come on, Blondie, we were just on a plane for two hours, can we at least shower?" Tony complained, flopping onto the couch.

"Fine, a thirty-minute break. You guys do what you need to, I'm going to the monument," Annabeth declared, packing a bag full of water bottles and food.

"Annabeth, it's eleven at night, you need to sleep. And eat. And rest," Steve counted the items on his fingers, looking like he was begging Annabeth to listen to him.

The daughter of Athena rolled her eyes, "I'm fine, me being pregnant doesn't mean I'm helpless," Annabeth sounded snappy.

Percy put his hand on her shoulder, "Wise Girl, Steve is right, you need to rest when you can. At least for my sake, you know I worry about you," He smiled at her, a soft smile that seemed too private to use in front of anyone but the two of them.

Annabeth wrapped her hand around Percy's, which was cupper her face, "Fine," she mumbled, leaning into his chest.

"Who knows when we'll have a safe place to sleep again, it's best we do it when we can," Will advised, wrapping an arm around Nico who yawned and pulled him closer.

"Ok, couples share rooms, some of the single people will need to pair up," Clint said, grabbing Tony and pulling him into a room much into the mechanic's displeasure.

"Frank and Rachel can share, Clint and Tony seem to be set, and Steve and Banner can have their own rooms. The couples share rooms," Jason said, opening a door to a room.

Everyone agreed that their time tonight would be best spent resting, and retired to their rooms.

The next morning, Annabeth woke up before anyone else, making sure not to disturb Percy who was sleeping beside her.

Putting on her running clothes, Annabeth decided to check out the monument and get herself an iced tea on the way. Leaving a note for her teammates, Annabeth realized that their hotel wasn't very far from the monument, probably another reason Tony chose it.

"That looks refreshing," A man commented as Annabeth sipped on the straw of her iced tea. The man had dark down skin, was breathing heavily, and sitting next to a tree.

"It sure is, but I haven't even started yet," Annabeth laughed.

The man chuckled, sticking out his hand, "Sam Wilson, you?"

"Annabeth Chase," she raised an eyebrow, shaking his hand then nodding to his military sweatshirt, "You in the army?"

"Nah, I did two tours, but now I work in the VA," he said, regaining his breath a little.

Annabeth smiled a little, "Life's a little too peaceful, now, huh?" she offered him a hand so he could get up.

He grabbed her hand, getting up and then leaning on his knees, "What about you? Marines? You look like the tough sort,"

"I guess you could say special forces, my work is kind of important," Annabeth said, almost like she was telling a joke to herself.

"Oh, so that's how it is?"

"That's how it is,"

"Do you come here every day?" Annabeth asked,

The man shrugged, "I try to,"

"Well, I better get started, it was good meeting you, Sam," Annabeth threw out her now empty iced tea and waved to Sam as she started running around the pool.

As she ran, she couldn't shake the feeling that she would see Sam again soon, and that the circumstances would be less than pleasant.


	26. Chapter 25

When Annabeth had first started this quest, she knew it would be different than any other she had been on before.

What she had forgotten to account for, was Tony Stark.

"We're going to have to hide out sometimes, it's usually the only way to avoid monsters in most circumstances," Nico said, almost glaring at the billionaire.

Clint and Bruce had left to get breakfast and coffee, leaving the demigods, Tony, and Steve in the hotel.

"Why? I have enough money to buy most of the hotels in the area, renting is not that hard,"

"There isn't a lot of time, we probably won't have much chance to sleep," Jason said, also looking vaguely annoyed.

Tony sighed, almost like he was thinking they were all crazy.

"We're on a time limit, Tony, and we can't waste any more of it," Nico scowled, grabbing his bag and opening it up, to grab a few stygian iron daggers and slotting them into his boots and sleeves.

"You got any celestial bronze?" Piper asked, poking Nico's side.

Instead of answering, he just glared at her.

"Can you see anything in Katoptris?" Jason asked, sipping the coffee Annabeth had brought back for them.

Piper shook her head, "There's nothing. It seems like most of our magical objects are pretty useless right now,"

"I've tried to go down to the underworld at least twenty times since the attacks, but I'm always blocked by… something," Nico sighed, "I don't know if my father is blocking me or if it's just something that's going on, but I can't go to any part of the underworld,"

"Wait, you can go to the Underworld?" Steve asked, sounding amazed.

Nico glared at him, "No, I just told you, I've been blocked from it for the past four years, weren't you listening?"

"Alright, I was just asking," Steve put up his hands in a placating manner.

"Maybe we should stay here for another day, see if we can find any clues, and then if we find nothing, we can go to San Francisco to see if there are any clues in Camp Jupiter," Will suggested.

Jason grimaced at the thought of returning to Camp Jupiter, as did many of the other demigods, but they pushed past it.

Steve sighed, "Well-"

He was cut off as something crashed into the floor to ceiling window beside them, making the whole group jump into battle positions.

They saw a man dressed in all black from head to toe with a mask on like a muzzle. One of his sleeves was ripped off to show a metal arm with a red star on the shoulder.

"That's the guy from my dream!" Rachel yelled, backing up against the wall.

"The Winter Soldier?" Annabeth asked, drawing her dagger which she had modified to be like Backbiter, Luke's old sword, so I could harm both mortal and mythical threats.

"What do you want?" Percy asked, drawing riptide.

The Winter Soldier didn't answer. Instead, he quickly drew a gun and started shooting at Will and Nico who dodged.

"I don't think he's the conversation type!" Steve yelled, getting his shield and throwing it towards the man who simply caught it in his metal arm, turning an icy glare towards Steve.

Steve froze as he saw the man's eyes, not moving from his vulnerable position where he had no protection.

"Steve! What are you doing!" Annabeth yelled, jumping out from behind the table she had been crouching behind and brandishing her dagger at the man.

"I- how?" Steve mumbled, in a state of shock.

"Oh for Hades sake," Annabeth mumbled, running towards the man with her dagger.

Annabeth tried to plunge the dagger into his flesh shoulder, but was quickly blocked by his metal hand, which had dropped Steve's shield.

"Soldat?" Frank's said, eyes wide and fixed on the man's face.

The man turned to face Frank, eyes cold, until he saw who he was looking at.

He didn't say anything, but he stopped trying to retaliate Annabeth's attacks, which made her pause.

"You remember him?" She asked, breath a little heavily.

The man nodded, eyes not leaving Frank's face.

"I used to help you after you came back from missions," Frank said, sounding a little nervous, "I cleaned your wounds and made sure you were ok-"

'Soldat' moved so fast that no one knew what was happening. In the blink of an eye, his metal hand was on Frank's throat, making the demigod choke.

Everyone in the room raised their weapons towards him, the tension was palpable.

He reached up and took off his mask, eyes full of confused rage, "I was never ok," he spat, like the words hurt coming out of his mouth, "You left me,"

"I'm sorry," Frank choked out, face turning a slight purple color, "I didn't want to-"

"Shut up!" The man yelled, squeezing Frank's neck tighter, "I-"

"Bucky?" Steve said, face still full of that unparalleled shock from before.

"Who the hell is Bucky?" The man spat.

He let go of Frank and ran towards the broken window, and before anyone could stop him, he jumped out.


	27. Chapter 26

"Should we chase after him-" Percy started, but was cut off by Frank.

"No, we can't take him on unprepared, just let him go,"

Steve's eyes were wide, almost like he had seen a ghost, "That was Bucky. How is Bucky alive? I saw him die, how-?"

"You mean Sargent Banes?" Annabeth asked, putting her dagger away and placing her hand on Steve's shoulder.

"I saw him die, I saw him fall, I couldn't save him, how is he alive?" Steve sounded close to a panic attack.

Annabeth put her hands on his shoulders and crouched in front of him, "Steve, breath. Breath with me, in and out,"

Steve's eyes were wide with panic, and Frank didn't look much better.

"So, that was the Winter Soldier-"

"No, that was Bucky Barnes," Steve interrupted Rachel, his voice shaking.

Rachel gave him a sympathetic glance, "Steve, I don't think that that is the man you remember, and I don't think he remembers you. For now, he's the Winter Soldier,"

"Frank, what do you know about him?" Jason asked,

Frank still looked a little shaken, but better than Steve, "He is HYDRA's best weapon, the only reason I was told to look after him was because they needed him for a mission and they couldn't afford to put him back in the ice,"

"The ice?" Bruce asked, looking confused.

"The first time I saw him, he was in this tube, and he was frozen. They told me that he was frozen when he wasn't needed, but he was kept out of the ice for so long because he was needed for… something," Frank looked almost lost, eyes far away.

"What would they need him for?" Tony questioned, actually looking worried for the blonde super-soldier sitting next to him.

Frank got quiet, staring into nothing, "I remember them talking about training, they said that they wanted more soldiers and that the Asset was in charge of training,"

After a moment of silence, Nico said what they were all thinking.

"Wouldn't demigods who have trained since childhood be the perfect army?"

"So our friends could be like Sargent Barnes? Mindless soldiers, who follow HYDRA's every command? Reyna? Hazel? Leo-?"

"Stop," Annabeth cut off Piper, her hands shaking slightly as she ran her fingers through her hair.

They all sat there silently, comprehending what Piper had just said.

"This might just be the hardest quest we've ever had," Jason sighed, pushing his glasses up on his nose.

"We need to find out where they are, and what they're planning on doing with our friends," Percy said, anger clear in his voice.

"Where could they have a space big enough to keep all the demigods without any mortals figuring out what's happening?" Will asked.

"I've been all around the world, and I only know one place big enough to train a whole army of demigods that is still around society without anyone noticing," Nico said quietly, drawing all eyes towards him, "Only Camp Jupiter has big enough space, and it already has all of the training equipment and barracks,"

"Well, it looks like we're going to have a walk down memory lane, and it won't be a pleasant stroll," Annabeth said, eyes darkening and making everyone realize how serious this was.

Annabeth was right about that, this wouldn't be a pleasant stroll for anyone involved.

Tony got his plane ready to fly to San Fransico and most of the group stayed silent for the rest of their stay in DC.

Annabeth stayed next to Percy for almost the entire time, feeling his arms around her shoulders and trying to stay calm.

"I was getting over it," she mumbled, pressing closer to Percy, "I was moving on, making new friends, letting their memories rest,"

"I know," Percy muttered, pressing a kiss to her temple, "but think about it this way: when we get out of this, Luke and our little poppy seed will have so many people looking out for them. I know that you don't like that fact that Luke could be in dangerous situations, but think about how far our friends would go to protect him,

"Our little poppy seed will be the same, they will be protected and loved. If we rescue our friends, then think about how many more people will be looking out for them,"

Annabeth smiled a little, sighing and leaning into Percy's chest.

"This might just be more difficult than Tartarus, considering we have to fight our friends," Annabeth said, sounding like she didn't want to think about it.

Both of them sat there for a while, not sure what to talk about.

"I just remembered how weird my cravings were with Luke," Annabeth suddenly blurted out, making Percy laugh.

"You were so obsessed with peanut butter, you almost had it with every meal,"

Annabeth giggled, "I have a strange feeling that this is going to be one demanding baby," she mumbled, rubbing her belly which still didn't give any indication of the baby in her uterus.

"This will be fun," Percy sighed, a sarcastic smile on his face.

Annabeth rubbed her forehead, already feeling the toll this whole thing would have on her body, both mentally and physically.

"What are we going to do?" She asked, knowing that Percy didn't have an answer to give her.

"Whatever we do, we're going to do it together," Percy said, tightening his arms around her.

"We'll always do it together," she said.


	28. Chapter 27

Going back to San Francisco was hard for all of the demigods, especially Jason, who had grown up there.

"It's almost like nothing has changed on the outside," he muttered as they rode to the hotel Tony had booked for them.

"It's hard going back to places you never thought you'd see again," Steve said, making eye contact with Jason.

"Ok, pretty blonde boys, we're here," Tony announced as they pulled up to the hotel.

Annabeth didn't want to stay long, only because she needed to go and see Camp Jupiter for herself.

Camp Half-Blood had been almost completely destroyed, by what they now knew to be Perses, and none of them had wanted to face the damage Camp Jupiter had undergone.

Finding the entrance to Camp Jupiter with four mortals wasn't easy, but Jason knew this place like the back of his hand.

"Before all of this happened, we would have centurions guarding all the entrances, so it was a little easier to find the entrances when you could see two people in full legionnaire armor," Jason kept up a quiet commentary as they walked towards the place Annabeth used to consider a second home.

When they came across the entrance, all of them remained silent.

Tony, Bruce, Steve, and Clint could tell that the demigods and Rachel didn't feel like talking as their eyes took in the tunnel that looked like it had barely been touched.

Without a word from anyone, they made their way inside, following the tunnel to what would hopefully be an abandoned city.

If there was anyone there, Annabeth wouldn't know what to do.

Finally seeing the Little Tiber was strange.

The river was still moving, still full of water, but it was eerily silent.

Percy frowned and walked closer, putting a hand in the wanter and letting the current wash over his hand.

"The Little Tiber is usually kept up by maintenance, right?" Percy asked Jason, who nodded. This made Percy's eyebrow's furrow, "It's as clean as the day I first came here, someone's been looking after it,"

"If HYDRA has been using this place, why would they keep the river clean?" Nico asked, but he was met with silence.

No one knew the answer.

"We should split up, we can cover the camp faster that way," Percy proposed, "One mortal to one demigod, which leaves Annabeth and I to go together,"

"Sounds like a plan," Tony sighed, setting down the briefcase he had been carrying and stepping into the Iron Man suit which came out of it, "Grace, you're with me, you seem to know the place best,"

Jason sighed a little but nodded, rising into the air and quickly flying across the water.

"Do we have to swim through?" Steve asked, looking at Jason who was landing out on the other side like nothing had happened.

"You have to swim through," Nico corrected, grabbing Will and shadow traveling to the other side of the river.

Piper looked at all of them like they were being dramatic and slid into the water, hissing a little at how cold it was.

Frank, Rachel, Steve, Bruce, Clint, Annabeth, and Percy followed her lead, though Percy wasn't struggling or getting wet in any way.

As they all got out, Percy dried them off with a flick of his wrist, making Bruce stare at him in disbelief.

"It's hard for me to remember that you're not just a Marine Biologist," he muttered, feeling his newly dried sleeves.

Percy grinned, "Sometimes I wish that was all I was,"

"Ok, Will and Steve together, Jason is with Tony already, Bruce and Frank, Rachel and Nico, and Clint and Piper. Annabeth and I will check the residential areas, you guys can look around the barracks and arenas," Percy said with the authority of someone who had commanded many troops in his life.

Will gave Nico a soft kiss as he joined Steve who was looking a little apprehensive about the whole idea.

As they all separated, Will found himself in an uncomfortable silence with Steve, who looked like he would rather be doing this alone.

"You loved him, didn't you?" Will asked as they come across some barracks.

Steve tensed once he comprehended Will's words, refusing to look at the other man.

"I never stopped," he said after a silence that seemed to stretch on for minutes, "I've loved him since 1927, and I never stopped,"

"I can understand that," Will said, looking around the empty training arena, "I was in love with Nico long before we got together. I just remember seeing this pretty and excited Italian boy going on and on about his trading cards," Will laughed to himself.

Looking over at Steve, Will could see that the other man looked lost in his head, a hurt expression on his face.

"I'm sorry, you probably don't want to hear about me and Nico when you're mourning your-"

"No," Steve interrupted, making Will look up to see the other man blushing slightly, "I think I need to hear happy things right now, do you have any more stories?"

Will beamed.

"The story about how we got together is pretty hilarious, actually," he said, "We had been eating at the dining hall and Jason and Percy both came up to annoy Nico, as they do. Nico had previously told Percy that Percy wasn't his 'type' and it's been a bit of a running joke since then. So Percy comes up and asks Nico 'What is it about me that isn't your type?',

"Nico had been having a rough day, training the younger campers, and just said: 'Percy, nothing could ever make you my type, even if you dyed your hair blonde and got claimed by Apollo',"

Steve found himself laughing at that, and he was quickly joined by Will.

"Of course, I was the only child of Apollo that Nico was really close to, which made everyone stare at me. Percy and Jason pushed us into each other later that evening and we've been together ever since,"

"That's a very nice story," Steve said, wiping his eyes and smiling at Will.

"I'm glad I could be of service, Captain" Will mock saluted, which made Steve glare at him playfully.

Silence enveloped them once more, but it was more comfortable this time.

That was, until they heard Annabeth's scream.


	29. Chapter 28

Will and Steve ran through the roads of New Rome towards the sound of Annabeth's scream.

Of course, Steve was faster than Will, which meant that Will was nearly out of breath after running across half of New Rome. When he entered the residential area of New Rome, he found Annabeth standing in front of the entrance to a building, both her and Percy white as sheets.

Steve was already there, his face filled with confusion. Tony flew over their heads, landing next to Annabeth, Jason not far behind. The rest of the groups came over, but Annabeth hadn't moved from her spot in front of the building, which Will recognized as the place that small families could live.

"Annabeth?" Will asked, stepping forward, unsure as to why she hadn't moved.

"Come look," Percy whispered, putting a hand on Annabeth's shoulder and still staring into the doorway of the building.

When Will saw what she had seen, he almost wanted to scream as well.

There was a chair in the middle of the room, but it wasn't a normal chair. It was black and made of metal, a helmet-like thing attached to it, which made it look more like a torture device than a chair.

But the thing that had made Annabeth scream wasn't the chair.

It was who was sitting in it.

"Hazel!" Nico yelled, running to the chair and pulling at the shackles on her wrists.

"Nico, wait, we need to-" Steve said, but Nico glared at him

"This is my SISTER! I don't care what we need to do," he looked at Hazel's unconscious body with a face of sheer panic.

Will knelt by Nico and tried to calm him down, but Nico's eyes were like a cornered animal. Frank slowly walked towards them, his expression similar to Nico's

"We need to help her, get her out of here, what if she needs a hospital? Will, can you heal her-"

Nico was cut off by a soft groan coming from Hazel's mouth, and immediately both he and Frank were at her side and looking at her with overwhelming worry and care.

"Hazel, can you hear me?" Frank asked, putting a hand on Hazel's arm.

Hazel's golden eyes blinked open slowly, unfocused and confused.

"I won't fall for this again," she muttered, looking at Frank's face and blinking slowly.

"Again? Hazel, what do you-"

"I won't tell you how to find them, no matter how realistic you make the dreams," she said, voice becoming more sure of herself.

"They've been showing her dreams of us?" Nico asked, looking sick as he held onto Hazel's arm.

"Don't act like you don't know," she said it like she wanted to leave, like she just wanted to go home and sleep, "Which one are you this time, Rumlow? Is the situation so dire they even called down Peirce? Who are you really?"

"Hazel," Nico's voice broke, the strong emotion that had been in his eyes two seconds ago, now replaced by a hollow hopelessness.

"Oh, Nico is a new one, it's usually just Frank- Wait, how do you know what Nico looks like?" A panic rose in Hazels' voice, "Frank I understand, but how do you know what Nico looks like?"

"Hazel, please listen to me, we're not whoever you think we are, it's Nico and Frank, the real us," Nico sounded weak, almost begging Hazel to believe him.

"No, no you're not! You got Nico, didn't you, where is he!" Hazel yelled, gold eyes shining dangerously even in the dim light, tendrils of The Mist wrapping around her fingers as she strained against the restraints on the chair.

"Hazel, please, listen to us!" Frank said softly, but the earnestness in his voice was clear.

"You can't trick me anymore," Hazel whispered through rapid breaths, looking like she was on the verge of a panic attack.

"Ma'am, please listen to us, we don't want any information that you're not willing to give. We just want to get you out of this chair," Steve stepped closer, putting on his 'Captain America Voice'.

Hazel sat still for a moment, looking at Steve in slight confusion.

Frank reached out to grab Hazel's hand and squeezed it slightly, making her look at him.

"I would never hurt you, Hazel, and neither would Nico,"

"Tell me something only the real Frank would know," Hazel said, almost like she was ready to fight them tooth and nail if they got it wrong.

"Um, alright- Oh! You tried to let Arion sleep in the living room once because it was cold out and he was acting pitiful," Frank said, looking back to Hazel who's eyes seemed more in focus than before.

She stared at Frank for a moment, then a single tear fell from her face, "Is it really you?" She asked, looking as though she would break into a million pieces if she was being tricked again. The last slivers of hope shined through her gaze.

"It's me," Frank promised, holding her hand.

"We're right here, and we're going to get you out of this chair," Nico promised, taking Hazel's other hand.

Hazel didn't say anything, but they all saw the emotion in her eyes: relief


End file.
